George Lucas once noted during an interview that he is often criticised for making children’s movies “as if that was a bad thing”. It was a very well delivered statement. Star Wars and Indiana Jones are without doubt aimed at children -despite having the sort of magic and appeal that allows them to be enjoyed by all ages of viewers, most especially the adults that grew up watching them. One notable exception to Lucas’ MO is his 1986 effort, Howard the Duck. Here is a movie that wasn’t made for children, based on a comic that was most certainly not made for children, yet made with all the style and flavour of a saturday morning serial aimed firmly at kids. Where then could a creation such as this find an appreciative audience? Well let me tell you; children.
Like many children all over the world, I grew up watching films that I was probably too young to be seeing. Looking back the likes of Terminator and Robocop certainly seem violent for an eight-year-old, but I do remember enjoying them a great deal, and then enjoying them a whole lot more when I was old enough to watch them again and appreciate some of their more nuanced touches. Howard the Duck is one of these movies. You stay up late at night one Friday evening, when your parents have already gone to sleep, and you catch a little glimpse of a fantasy world you’ve never seen before. It’s a comic book come to life, and it sweeps you away in that way a Lucasfilm adventure (film or video game) always seems to. The wise cracking hero, the girl, mad scientists, the evil overlord… all the beats of a pulp comic are here to enjoy. It’s nothing to be taken too seriously, everything is presented at face value. You either buy in or you don’t. I mean, if you really want to get critical then maybe comic book movies aren’t really for you to begin with.
Nothing really does this kind of movie justice more than staying up late on a warm summer evening with just an open mind and a desire to go along with an adventure. Howard in his homeworld is a very relatable character. A duck with dreams, slowly coming to the realisation that they may never work out for him. You get the impression that if the whole story remained in the duckverse it might play like a straightforward Gen X coming of age movie. As it happens, destiny calls and Howard is transported to another universe, ours. Typical fish out of water situation, with the minor twist of some interdimensional travel thrown in. Well then, with some memorable support from Lea Thomspon and Tim Robbins, Howard has to get home to where he belongs, and there’s the setup, right?
Well, then there’s the parallel stories of a strange science experiment gone wrong, and an all powerful evil overlord interrupted in its quest to take over its own corner of the galaxy. As fate would have it, these three tales all crossover in Cleveland pretty much outside a punk rock bar sometime in the late 80s. Somehow all this happens, and we get something of a strange beast. A fish out of water science fiction comic book fantasy adventure, with some gorgeous stop motion effects and a very, very 80s aesthetic. Now, I may not be saying a whole lot right now, but to a certain generation of kid (me) there really doesn’t need to be much more to it for us to really just get sucked in and enjoy the ride.
There’s other factor’s here too. The filmmaking, it's not your typical pulp movie fare. Writer and director Willard Huyck (who also wrote American Graffiti and Temple of Doom) knows his craft. Visual effects from Industrial Light and Magic and stop motion effects by Phil Tippet (Star Wars, Robocop and Jurassic Park) certainly put the film’s technical standards a cut above what you might be expecting. The film’s colours and soundtrack also add to the sort of 80’s punk comic book appeal. Lea Thompson even did her own singing!
In summary then what you have is a sort of pulp comic midnight movie, executed with a rare technical competence and the kind of goofy story that you never really take too much notice of as a kid. It’s a wild ride, and it requires you to suspend disbelief. Watching as an adult I do wonder why they spend so much of the film in a diner. In the end though it’s all part of the fun. I couldn’t classify this film as anything but a product of its time, and therein lies its true appeal. Watching this is like opening a time capsule. Either you were there and you feel a sense of connection to it, or you weren’t in which case you probably wonder what they were smoking when they came up with it. Hard not to love it really.
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