Netquix: Howard the Duck (1986)

Netflix content reviewed in 150 words. Or thereabouts.

Howard the Duck (1986)

Dir: Willard Huyck

111 minutes

A comic book adaptation so loose it might as well be Rik Waller’s trousers around Charles Hawtrey’s waist, Howard the Duck is producer George Lucas out of his Ewok mind on power and irresponsibility. Chronicling the feathered misfortunes of a distinctly unlikeable fowl, it’s a major misstep on just about every conceivable level. By turns unfunny, plodding, poorly-plotted and insultingly ugly, it’s a disjointed and badly-acted disaster of an “adventure” that quacks amateur from every frame.

Duck tits. DUCKS DON'T HAVE TITS.

Duck condom. NOW THINKING OF DUCK COCK

With a fatal misunderstanding of how to interpret the source material, the film is an ill-judged tonal cacophony that smashes together unsuccessfully the narrative infancy of a CBeebies pantomime with queasy, adolescent humour. Sex references and nudity jostles uncomfortably with kid-friendly knockabout chase scenes and atom-thin caricatures who wouldn’t seem out of place in a ChuckleVision omnibus.

Which leads to the ultimate question: who is this film for? Answer: no one. Duck off Howard.

1/10

Howard the Duck: bunch of arse.