LogFAQs > #910318198

Howard the Duck (1986)
Nominated by: JONA

I think I'll keep this simple, as there's no reason to make any bones about it: there is nothing redeemable about Howard the Duck. It's a bad movie. This consensus is clear, and one of the biggest issues is that making Howard the Duck in 1986 was one of the hugest issues involved. I could recast this movie, rewrite this movie, and bring in a new effects team, and I STILL won't make Howard look really terrible on the big screen. That's just a bridge too far. Lucas was overreaching when he took the single greatest special effects team of its generation and attempted to make Howard. I don't often say this, but there are times when you need CGI.

There was no CGI in 1986, and that kills the potential for a successful Howard the Duck movie as Lucas envisioned.

Instead, I would hand the Howard concept to an animated studio. After all, when you look at Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (which released only a couple of years later) it's clear that animation was the best remedy for characters who were naturally cartoonish in appearance. That alone would assist in making a Howard film much more palatable. Don't go for realism; go for stylistic interpretations that are aesthetically pleasing.

Of course, George Lucas' oversight still remains an issue with this film. The script is awkward, creepy, confusing and terrible. The characters are all dull fools with bizarre motivations, and really nothing about this film works. Much like I did with Swamp Thing, I would overhaul the entirety of this movie. I would hand the film to Ivan Reitman first and foremost, a snappy director who excels at creating the sort of strong dialogue that puts a character over with the audience. I'd also recast Howard's voice with Bill Murray. Allowing Howard to seem more detached from the world gives him more credibility, and the breezy, almost disinterested way that Murray acts would be pitch perfect for the character. At that point, I would sell an extremely dark, disturbing threat (like Morbius or Ghost Rider) as the opposing threat in order to create a humorous dichotomy.

And of course I'd cut the weird duck sex situation from the movie completely. This is a movie that would recognize its absurdity and embrace it. It's about being cool more than anything else. And I think that might just be enough to serve as a blockbuster summer 80s film.
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"It is too easy being monsters. Let us try to be human." ~Victor Frankenstein, Penny Dreadful