In a forest in the Northeastern America, the Mallard family consisting of Mack (Kumail Nanjiani), his wife Pam (Elizabeth Banks), and their two children Dax (Casper Jennings) and Gwen (Tresi Gazal) live a pleasant but unadventurous life in their pond home mainly due to Mack's anxieties about the outside world. When a flock of migrating ducks stop by and tell Mack's family of their destination of Jamaica, Mack brushes initially brushes off the idea despite his family's objections until talking with his even more risk averse Uncle Dan (Danny DeVito) changes his mind. As the Mallard family begins their migration, they make their way South encountering various misadventures along the way.
Migration is the latest animated feature from Universal based studio Illumination and the first 3D animated film from director Benjamin Renner who had previously garnered acclaim from traditionally animated films such as Ernest & Celestine and The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales. While Migration certainly covers familiar ground when it comes to this kind of story, its familiarity is mad more palatable thanks to some solid visual craft as well as some good performances from the voice actors.
While I'll admit I did approach Migration with a certain level of skepticism as the marketing did feel like it was selling a movie in line with something like Rio or Duck Duck Goose, I was pleasantly surprised by how it avoided common pitfalls associated with this kind of broadly targeted animated format. While the family certainly fall into archetypes with the anxiety ridden father and the mother being more adventurous, the chemistry between Nanjiani and Banks in the roles brings a lot of energy and believability to their dynamic. The two children Dax and Gwen are also voiced by Caspar Jennings and Tresi Gazal also do a good job of capturing a surprisingly more believable brother/sister dynamic with some charming scenes such as when Gwen tags along with Dax or won't stop hugging him until he feels better.
One of the qualities I really appreciated Renner's approach to the material was despite existing in a setting with humans they never talk with the only speech coming from the birds themselves. This helps create a solid sense of identity for the film that really sold it for me especially in regards to the main antagonist a nameless chef who's an amalgam of various celebrity chefs whose character is created almost entirely through pantomime and the animation. Renner also worked to avoid many of the more base and lazy jokes he felt were too prevalent in family films and it really did feel like the humor was more character and situation based. With that said this is a very straightforward "road movie" with more than a few shades of prior films of this ilk and I wouldn't say there's any major risks it takes, but despite maybe playing its narrative a bit too safe it makes for fun diverting viewing.
Migration doesn't reach the heights of the bar director Renner has set for himself, but as a diverting bit of lighthearted escapism it's above average. In a year that hasn't been a slouch where animation has been concerned (Nimona, Across the Spider-Verse) Migration is in good company and is a solid work even if not particularly ambitious.
Migration is the latest animated feature from Universal based studio Illumination and the first 3D animated film from director Benjamin Renner who had previously garnered acclaim from traditionally animated films such as Ernest & Celestine and The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales. While Migration certainly covers familiar ground when it comes to this kind of story, its familiarity is mad more palatable thanks to some solid visual craft as well as some good performances from the voice actors.
While I'll admit I did approach Migration with a certain level of skepticism as the marketing did feel like it was selling a movie in line with something like Rio or Duck Duck Goose, I was pleasantly surprised by how it avoided common pitfalls associated with this kind of broadly targeted animated format. While the family certainly fall into archetypes with the anxiety ridden father and the mother being more adventurous, the chemistry between Nanjiani and Banks in the roles brings a lot of energy and believability to their dynamic. The two children Dax and Gwen are also voiced by Caspar Jennings and Tresi Gazal also do a good job of capturing a surprisingly more believable brother/sister dynamic with some charming scenes such as when Gwen tags along with Dax or won't stop hugging him until he feels better.
One of the qualities I really appreciated Renner's approach to the material was despite existing in a setting with humans they never talk with the only speech coming from the birds themselves. This helps create a solid sense of identity for the film that really sold it for me especially in regards to the main antagonist a nameless chef who's an amalgam of various celebrity chefs whose character is created almost entirely through pantomime and the animation. Renner also worked to avoid many of the more base and lazy jokes he felt were too prevalent in family films and it really did feel like the humor was more character and situation based. With that said this is a very straightforward "road movie" with more than a few shades of prior films of this ilk and I wouldn't say there's any major risks it takes, but despite maybe playing its narrative a bit too safe it makes for fun diverting viewing.
Migration doesn't reach the heights of the bar director Renner has set for himself, but as a diverting bit of lighthearted escapism it's above average. In a year that hasn't been a slouch where animation has been concerned (Nimona, Across the Spider-Verse) Migration is in good company and is a solid work even if not particularly ambitious.