Migration (2023)
Illumination’s new animated movie Migration offers a jolly form of escapism, that will provide harmless fun for children, but may leave wanting accompanying adults just a little more.
Illumination is the production company behind the successful Despicable Me/Minions franchise, the Sing-musicals and this year’s mega hit Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Migration, which is already playing in some parts of the world and will be released in other parts soon, is a bird, or rather a duck, of a different feather. It’s an original story, written by Mike White and Benjamin Renner, with the latter directing the movie with Guylo Homsy.
It tells the story of the Mallards, a family of ducks who inhabit a lovely pond somewhere in New England. Father Mack (Kumail Nanjiani) is happy to stay where he is, but mother Pam (Elizabeth Banks), son Dax (Caspar Jennings) and daughter Gwen (Tresi Gazal) would like nothing better than to migrate to Jamaica for the winter.
Since Mack is a bit of a pushover, it doesn’t take long before the Mallards are on their merry way, even taking lonely old Uncle Dan (Danny De Vito) with them. Which is definitely the shape of things to come, as along the way the flock keeps getting bigger.
During a stop in New York they manage to free parrot Delroy (Keegan-Michael Key), who happens to be from Jamaica and can show them the way to the tropical island. However, his escape means incurring the wrath of the Chef (Jason Marin) of the Manhattan restaurant, who likes to prepare Duck a l’orange and now wants to serve up the Mallards as his next course.
The problem is that Chef, who is presented as the movie’s Big Bad, isn’t a very interesting villain. Which makes the mid-section of the movie feel like a necessary evil, before the Mallards & co can resume their journey to sunnier parts.
Migration is clearly a story about overcoming your fears and discovering everything the world has to offer. Which is fine as a jumping-off point, but when your movie is written by Mike White (of The White Lotus fame), you may expect a little more. There are a lot of thematic possibilities, like migration vs immigration, or travel vs tourism, that are left unexplored.
Also, the Mallards are a likable bunch, but the family dynamics seem pretty predictable. Mack would choose safety over adventure any day of the week, but when push comes to shove, he can still be a hero. Pam is the heart and soul of the family, the dynamo who sets everything in motion. Dax is at the age where he wants to experience first love, and also he wants to earn the respect of his father. And Gwen is the little sister, who is a as lovable as she is annoying. Or the other way around.
One of the best sequences happens early on, when the Mallards are taken in by a couple of elderly herons, which begs the question: will the ducks get eaten or can they all be friends? This sequence achieves a kind of will they-won’t they ambiguity that the rest of the movie lacks. Or perhaps, director Renner, who scored an Oscar nomination for Ernest et Celestine (2012), thought the movie could become too scary for the pre-teen audience the movie is ostensibly aiming for.
Visually, the movie looks quite fetching, especially the soft autumn hues of New England and the big city look of Manhattan, without being exceptional. The voice-cast is mostly fine too, with Akwafina being the stand-out in what’s basically an extended cameo as NYC pigeon leader Chump.
I saw Migration on Sunday afternoon at my local Pathé Theater and I enjoyed myself enough to not go home disappointed. Migration is good fun, but you just wish that a movie about going on an adventure could have been at least a little more adventurous in its own right.