Illumination has gained a reputation for their recent films being unfunny, unoriginal and just for kids. Migration is pretty much all three, but wholly inoffensive and pretty sweet. The film is about ducks leaving their pond and finding their way to Jamaica. Fraught with challenges and riddled with side characters, we watch the flock flee the nest and learn to live in the dangerous outer world. The leading performances don’t leave lasting impressions, while the minor characters surrounding them are the ones that I will think of when someone brings up this film. It very much slots itself into the “kids film” genre of animated films, not catering to the whole family but also isn’t so “dumbed down" that a parent will have to leave the room or sleep in the cinema while the film is playing.
Mack (Kumail Nanjiani) and Pam (Elizabeth Banks) Mallard live together with their two ducklings, Dax (Caspar Jennings) and Gwen (Tresi Gazal). The film begins with Mack detailing a heightened cautionary tale to his children, hoping to keep them in the pond. This sets up Mack’s character arc of getting over his fears. A theme that is prevalent throughout with an impressively gradual progression considering the usual approach to change that films like these take on. Shortly after the story, a flock of ducks land in the pond, on a stop gap to Jamaica for their winter migration. Mack dismisses them but the rest of the family are so intrigued by the journey and express their wishes to go. It’s only when Mack runs into Uncle Dan (Danny DeVito) does he realise what staying in the pond could lead to.
The next morning he wakes up the family and they set off for Jamaica, getting caught in a storm pretty early on in their journey and stopping off to be greeted by a genuinely terrifying heron, Erin (Carol Kane).
I do think this is the best part of the film, as we watch Erin flip from a threat to a genuine and helpful bird to the ducks. I think the comedy and animation work really well in these segments. It also doesn’t overstay it’s welcome before they’re off and hit their next obstacle, New York. Here they meet Chump (Awkwafina) who is the leader of a pigeon gang and shows them around the big city.
Shenanigans and tomfoolery ensue from here on out, meeting more characters and getting themselves into unique situations.
The plot feels paint by numbers in the “duck out of pond” sort of way, as they react to the differences and perils of the wider world. We see the family bond grow but not really in a hugely impactful way that will have many people feeling triumph at the conclusion of the film. I don’t think the film really needed it to do what it set out to do, but adding in a few scenes of familial bonding could have made it more memorable.
The performances are a little confusing from the leads, as they have both been very charismatic and endearing previously, here though it seems muted from them both, giving way for the minor characters and kids to take a lot of the personality of the film. If this is a direction to allow the rest of the cast to shine, it feels like a strange choice. I do think the more likely reason is that neither Nanjiani nor Banks had much interest in the project and turned up to do their jobs at a fine level. Danny DeVito, Carol Kane and Awkwafina are the standouts for me, serving the story a lot more than the leads and having memorable moments.
The animation of the film is vivid and fluid, very much fitting within the Illumination style of visual storytelling. They have sharp colours and shapes, only deviating in style during the opening story that Mack tells to his children. Nothing in the film felt new but it’s sheen doesn’t make it look cheap or rushed either. The look of the film is perfectly palatable, even if other western animation studios like Dreamworks and Pixar are trying out new style, Illumination will always stay consistent, consistently safe.
Migration is a film I didn’t hate, and casting my mind back, I think it could have been one that young me would have enjoyed. It has shades of Over the Hedge or Madagascar in the sense that it takes it’s central characters out of their environment and introduces them to strange folks in new situations. The comedy of these films come from that, some more effectively than others admittedly.
I’m interested in Illumination's journey, almost refusing to compromise their style of churning out films in one style and raking in those Minion dollars. I imagine that won’t go on forever, and stand alone films like Migration are testing the waters for trying something new, even if that something new just doesn’t include the Minions.
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