Anthony's Film Review - DuckTales (TV Series, 1987-1990)

A wonderful series of exciting adventures, exactly what Disney is all about...

Walt Disney, practically the granddaddy of animation in my book, first brought characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy to the silver screen as short films played before the feature theatrical presentation. Even as times changed, the Disney trademarks had ways to live on. One of them was television. The Walt Disney Company was wise to create original animated shows on TV that renewed old favorites and invented new ones.

One such example was DuckTales, which I consider to be an outstanding TV cartoon, surely one of the best. It does what any good kids show does: mesmerize the audience, pull them right in, and never let go. More importantly, it does what a GREAT kids show does: appeal to all ages, even the grownups who can easily approve this show's content. You know what? I wouldn't really call DuckTales a kids show. It's really an exciting show for the whole family.

DuckTales centers on various characters in the city of Duckburg. The main one is Scrooge McDuck, a rich miser who literally swims in the money in his vault as a pasttime. His nephews are Huey, Dewey, and Louie, who had been previously hanging out with their other uncle, Donald Duck, in many older cartoons. Other allies include the pilot Launchpad McQuack, the inventor Gyro, and the primitive caveduck Bubba. As for villains, there are mainly three who come to mind: the rich duck Flintheart Glomgold, the sorceress Magica, and a gang of robbers called the Beagle Boys.

Even if DuckTales ran for a total of only three years, there is still a lot of great stuff to watch in this series. Each of the show's episodes can be easily defined by one word: adventure. It could involve a plot against Scrooge's wealth, an effort to find treasure, time travel, space travel, other science-fiction premises, magic, situations in everyday life, and much more. That's the beauty of this show. There's always excitement with whatever is happening, regardless of what it is. There's no other way to describe it.

To top it off, this show has a great theme song. Just listen to it and you'll find it sticks to your mind, because it's very catchy and memorable. It captures the excitement of adventuring, even in the face of danger. It is just simply an uplifting and upbeat tune, very fitting for this show. With that, I will say one more thing about the target audience. This is a show that can appeal to any generation, not just the people who enjoyed this as children of the late 1980s. If you have kids and they love Disney cartoons, you owe it to them to have them watch DuckTales. They will thank you for it.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about DuckTales, visit the Internet Movie Database.