Howard the Duck (1986) Review

My Rating: 4/10

Directed by: Williard Huyck
Screenplay by: Gloria Katz & Williard Huyck
Produced by: George Lucas & Gloria Katz
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Comedy
Runtime: 110 Minutes


I've been waiting some time for this review, and now it is here. George Lucas let Hollywood down the day he decided to produce this film. But let’s not blame this film being bad on him, because it was much more than the production that let this one down. Howard the Duck is filled with corny action, duck tits (I’ll explain later) and an adventure of sheer stupidity. It has an idiotic screenplay but the direction is bearable. However, it doesn't make anything better because this film stinks.  So let’s begin!


The Plot:
My problem is how the film opens. Film begins with a wide-shot of Howard’s city (of his world), and slowly zooms and eventually we get to Howard’s House. It was so damn quiet for so long I thought my sound was broken. Well we meet our character Howard who comes home, grabs a beer, and takes a seat to watch television. All of a sudden, without any form of character development, of even being familiarised with who Howard is, there is an earthquake. Then Howard in his chair suddenly flies back, knocking through the walls. He suddenly ends up in an ally way in our world ad after being abused by several ‘thugs’ he meets Beverly, the female cast member who we follow. Well they make a little friendship and Beverly helps Howard try to get home. From there onwards, you’re going to go on a strange journey.

Beverly and Howard at Beverly's apartment.

Duck Tits:
Let me get this of my chest before the review [Pardon the pun of chest]. I really I’m surprised at this. It’s nothing controversial. It’s just hilarious and ridiculous to see. I mean look at it! This is what we see when Howard is flying through the walls, but she isn’t one bit bothered.

Characters:
Howard the Duck: Let’s start with Howard. After all, he’s in the title. Well Howard Is basically a 20-30 year old duck (I assume this is his age), who is no more than 3 feet tall. I don’t really have uh of a problem with Howard and he just might be the best thing in the film (well I guess he should be). He often says duck related wise cracks and beats people up. But the film is just silly with this character.

Beverly: Beverly is a member of a band called ‘Cherry Bomb’. The band whom I must say is very 80’s indeed, with the rebellious dressing. Well Beverly is the one who helps Howard and support him and eventually falls in love with him.

The rest of the characters stunk, and that is all I can say.

Visual Effects:
Now here is something I can comment on, because some of the effects where superb. But Howard the Duck just didn’t work for me. He felt lifeless. Now something I want to comment on is the monster in the final scene. Holy crap is it monstrous! Now this film is a PG. If I were 8 years old and saw this film I'd crap my pants! I mean look at the detail of it. It’s monstrous and horrible. But I must praise the visual effects of this scene. It was a well done piece of stop motion animation but just a tad too frightening for its PG rating. The editing wasn’t too bad, no harm done with the editorial. Film is linear (at least).

Romance in the air:
This is another factor of the film that let it down. The film has thrown in a love story into the adventure, between Howard and Beverly. There is no chemistry what so ever. Some of the scenes are actually hilarious because they are bad. But I have to admit, that in the scene when Beverly looks through Howard’s wallet and finds the condom is funny. That scene is apparently deleted in some versions of the film.

The image speaks for itself.

Overview:
The film is hugely corny and hilariously bad. It’s a fun film to watch because of this. This film really should have been an animated feature which probably let it down. But even as an animated feature it would be bad. The character Howard the Duck is from an old comic book series and someone decided to bring it back again. Well they made a mistake in that. Howard the Duck is a terrible film to remember. It’s full of irritating characters, a ridiculous plot and overall it’s one big mess. But I do give it a little credit. It has some interesting moments but really is let down by the characters and foolish plot line. Howard the Duck is well deserving of the ‘Razzie’ Award in my book.

Ratings:
Story: 48%
Characters: 36%
Emotion: 29%
Visual: 53%
Music: N/A
Overall: 41%