'

Howard the Duck

Play trailer

Howard the Duck

PG

1986

1h 51m

Sci-Fi

Action

Adventure

Fantasy

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

13%

Tomatometer

86 Reviews

38%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

In this film based on the comic book character, Howard the Duck is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. There he saves rocker Beverly (Lea Thompson) from thugs and forms a friendship with her. She introduces him to Phil (Tim Robbins), who works at a lab with scientist Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones). When the doctor attempts to return Howard to his world, Jenning instead transfers an evil spirit into his own body.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

Critics Consensus

While it has its moments, Howard the Duck suffers from an uneven tone and mediocre performances.

Read Critics Reviews

David Stratton

Sydney Morning Herald

There are a few good jokes along the way, but the final effect is that we've been here rather too many times before.

Dec 15, 2020

Full Review

Michael Shmith

The Age (Australia)

This creature with a mobile bill, scrawny body, and with a voice like Humphrey Bogart proves irritating beyond belief. Also, Howard has the glassy eyes of a doll and an artificiality that even his brusque, wise-quacking manner cannot quite conceal.

Dec 15, 2020

Full Review

David Robinson

Times (UK)

There must have been a terrible moment, many millions of collars into the production of Howard, when everyone realised it was not going to work either as comedy or thriller, as kid's stuff or sophisticated fore.

Dec 15, 2020

Full Review

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

This was a bad movie when it was released. It is a bad movie today. And it will continue to be a bad movie long after this planet ceases to exist.

Rated: 1/4

May 6, 2024

Full Review

Avaryl Halley

Movie Bitches

I like this better than the Prequels. The choices are strong and wrong…I mean they storyboarded duck tits!!

Rated: 6/10

Apr 24, 2024

Full Review

Andrew Galdi

Movie Bitches

I honestly think if you rescored this movie you could improve it by 50%

Rated: 4.5/10

Apr 24, 2024

Full Review

Read all reviews

Stephen C

Tasteless in 1 hour and 41 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/29/25

Full Review

Alexander T

This movie is so good. The last time I saw this was when I was like 5, but I liked it back then.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/18/25

Full Review

Chip C

This film gets a raw deal. It is very entertaining. I don't know what people expected. It's a duck from space! The haters of this one are just like the current fans of the Marvel movies, they've never read the source material! Their opinions don't count.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/29/25

Full Review

thiago s

Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajudou a melhorar o filme, a história é fraca, os personagens sao fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes para fazer o filme ser bom.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

04/27/25

Full Review

Blu B

The pacing of this is legit like the 93' Super Mario Bros Movie. It just never stops with the nonsense, insane antics, bizarre stuff, and sometimes I don't even know. The human brain can't take all the nonsense this throws. The editing is terrible too. This is a comedy mixed with a Sci-Fi flick and it never in the slightest makes it work together. The story makes sense but it just expects you to except this nonsense it throws with no rhyme or reason. The acting is horrifcally bad. Jeffery Jones is truly like Dennis Hopper in this as Bowser. He is so over the top, insane, and just.....wow...like just wow. The dialouge in this is terrible. I feel so bad for Lea Thompson because she's trying to make this work but god....it's a losing battle. Howard is....something...I don't even know honestly. Every other line in this is every single duck pun you can possibly think of. The humor is sooo surface level. Tim Tobbins is....terrible too but at least he brings energy to the performance and is having fun it looks like. The cinematography is just beyond surreal. The special effects are just...it's like the finale in Super Mario 93' where it just doesn't stop with the insane crazy effects and visuals. The stopmotion monster looks so stupid and like a kid with Play Doh designed it. Every scene with Howard is just....ruined by him. Like the direction on it's own isn't bad and there is tons of production value. But it's like making a MLK film, hiring Nolan, giving it 250 million in budget backed by Warner, with Hans Zimmer doing the score and the script is Chinatown level and you cast Kevin James as MLK. That's the best analogy I can come up with for this visually. This is such a dumb idea, the jokes are just beyond bad and written probably by a middle aged dude trying to appeal to kids. Actually maybe not because there is so much inappropriate stuff in this there's no way this can be for kids. So I have no idea who this is for. Skip this. Just ....Wow...

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/08/25

Full Review

Audience Member

peak fiction. absolute cinema. one of the movies ever made. tope quotes: "no sex right now, i'm working" "i have no drivers license. i am not jack."

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/23/25

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Willard Huyck

Director

Lea Thompson

Beverly Switzler

Jeffrey Jones

Dr. Walter Jenning

Tim Robbins

Phil Blumburtt

Paul Guilfoyle

Lieutenant Welker

Liz Sagal

Ronette

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - The Dark Overlord

3:02

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - Taking Flight

1:37

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - Howard's Wallet

2:30

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - Intense Animal Magnetism

2:32

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - A Brewski at Beverly's

2:15

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - No More Mr. Nice Duck

2:21

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - I'm a Freak

1:48

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - Me Phil, You Howard

1:45

Howard the Duck: Official Clip - Smog Inspection

1:35

View more videos

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

83%

94%

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

93%

97%

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

94%

96%

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

10%

16%

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Superman III

29%

23%

Superman III

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Superman III

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

15 Boundary-Pushing Movies That Broke Sexual Taboos

Marvel Movie Madness! Part 21: Howard the Duck

Total Recall: Our Favorite Talking Animals

View more photos

Synopsis

In this film based on the comic book character, Howard the Duck is suddenly beamed from Duckworld, a planet of intelligent ducks with arms and legs, to Earth, where he lands in Cleveland. There he saves rocker Beverly (Lea Thompson) from thugs and forms a friendship with her. She introduces him to Phil (Tim Robbins), who works at a lab with scientist Dr. Jenning (Jeffrey Jones). When the doctor attempts to return Howard to his world, Jenning instead transfers an evil spirit into his own body.

Director: Willard Huyck
Producer: Gloria Katz, Robert Latham Brown
Screenwriter: Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz
Production Co: Lucasfilm Ltd., Universal Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $15.0M
Runtime: 1h 51m
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

Most Popular at Home Now