HOWARD THE DUCK

Publicity poster for Howard the Duck (© Willard Huyck/Lucasfilm Ltd/Universal Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

If I were to ask you which Marvel Comics character was the first to receive major big-screen Hollywood cinematic starring-role treatment, unless you're a super-hero geek like me you'd probably suggest Spider-Man, Hulk, one of the X-Men, Thor, or Captain America – but, if so, you'd be wrong. Believe it or not, the correct answer is (wait for it!) - Howard the Duck!

I'd long heard of this Steve Gerber-created character's critically-mauled monstrosity of an eponymously-entitled movie, directed by Willard Huyck and originally released back in 1986. Yet in view of how with iconoclastic glee I almost invariably love the films that critics hate, I fully expected to do the same with this one too. How wrong could I be?!

I finally got around to watching Howard the Duck on DVD during the evening of 6 February 2020, but after reaching the halfway mark I could take no more, freeze-framed it on my DVD player, went to bed, and left it well alone until the folowing night when, against my better judgement, I watched the second half. To be fair, that half was somewhat better, but its 109-min total running time should have been cut to no more than 90 min, removing some of the seemingly endless repetition and decidedly unfunny 'jokey' dialogue.

For those who have never watched this cinematic travesty, it is based upon a popular Marvel comic book (thus demonstrating that not all comic books successfully make the transition from printed page into movie form), telling the tale of how on a parallel planet far far away the dominant species is not human but anatine (duck). One day, an anthropomorphic duck named Howard (played predominantly by Ed Gale, augmented by a number of suit performers, puppeteers, and Chip Zien supplying his voice) is accidentally sucked out of his Duckworld planet and dropped unceremoniously into ours, landing in Cleveland, Ohio, where much is made of how he doesn't fit in before he eventually makes some human friends. These include feisty rock singer Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson) and aptly-named bumbling if well-meaning scientist Phil Blumburtt (Tim Robbins), who try to help him return home - until Earth is invaded by a Dark Overlord of the Universe, that is, who plans for his evil race of hideous monsters to take over and enslave our planet.

The only way to save our world is to destroy the one device that can return Howard to his. This means that Howard has to make a massive decision - return home to Duckworld and abandon his Earth friends and their world to a horrible fate, or save Earth but in so doing lose forever his chance of going home. Does he make the ultimate sacrifice? Does anybody care?

Quite frankly, despite suspending disbelief like there's no tomorrow, I still found the whole storyline so preposterous and Howard so obnoxious at times that for me the movie was as doomed as our planet, even when the web-footed wonder does finally come through and even though it does co-star the wonderful Tim Robbins. Apparently, this film was originally planned as an animated feature but for contractual reasons was made as a live-action movie instead, which is a great shame, because I feel that having originated as a comic book, the character and storyline would have transferred to the screen far more effectively via a cartoon format.

All in all, I'm sorry but imho Howard the Duck is totally quackers! Having said that, don't take my word for it – click here to watch the following trailer and make up your own mind.

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Howard the Duck (© Willard Huyck/Lucasfilm Ltd/Universal Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)