Migration

Migration is just a simple adventure, but still an enjoyable film on its own. It does have a predictable story and an unneeded villain for a movie about migrating. But it still provides things to be a decent film thanks to great animation, some cute jokes that I at least chuckled, and as someone that loves to travel, it does have the heart of venturing the world. I think it would be worth watching at least once. But I do think that the kids will love it for the funny characters and a tale that they will easily get into more than adults would. Like The Super Mario Bros Movie and the other films Illumination has made, it's not the best movie of the year. I do think this movie is pretty simple, but pretty cute for a migrate adventure.

I couldn't resist the chance to watch "Migration" ahead of its Boxing Day release date. From start to finish, my love for "Migration" only grew stronger. The film is an absolute delight - it's not just super cute and funny, but it's also packed with heartwarming moments that tug at your emotions. The characters bring such warmth and charm that you can't help but be drawn into their world.

Beyond the humor and cuteness, "Migration" delivers a great message to stop waiting for life to happen to you. The animation is nothing short of fantastic, bringing the story to life with vibrant visuals and captivating sequences. "Migration" is a perfect blend of laughter, heart, and visual brilliance that makes it a must-watch for animation enthusiasts of all ages.

This animation was awesome to watch. The experience after seeing this I was so fresh and I got relief from on going mental stress as well.

The comedy scenes and the cuteness of the character Gwen Mallard was just beyond my expectations. The character of Dax Mallard as the son of Mack Mallard was so daring and challenging and it was nice to see some shadow of his father Mack Mallard. Also the character of Uncle Dan gaves amusement more. Especially the character of Mack Mallard shows us the responsibility how we need to take in our full of problems of life. Pam Mallard's role wife of Mack Mallard's was also noticeable her support to her husband is great to see.

Overall the animation attracts me cause it's childishness cuteness of those characters.

I feel really glad to giving a feedback on this animation.

Regards.

Ashiq Mridha.

'Migration' is a really well-made family film. It's a simple premise about anthropomorphic ducks - the father duck, Mack (Nanjiani), wants to protect his children/chicks, Dax (Jennings) and Gwen (Gazal), and the mother duck, Pam (Banks), wants them to experience the world and gain some experience. They meet some other ducks migrating south for the winter - they're presumably in North-Eastern USA - so they decide to do the same, with quirky uncle Dan (DeVito) in tow.

What follows is both a semi-familiar road-trip comedy, as well as a refreshing take on family, trying new things and helping others. There's a great support cast, as the duck family passes through New York City and meets Chump the pigeon (Awkwafina), Delroy the macaw (Key), as well as Erin the heron (Kane) and GooGoo (Mitchell) - either a goose or a white duck. There's a nice jail-break sequence for Delroy, which sets up the human antagonist, the Chef.

For some reason the Chef also has a Chinook and hunts them down, leading to Dax and Gwen having to step-up. The animation is a nice mix of cartoonish and realistic, and it looks excellent, especially at the end. There's no overly-scary moments, some teachable themes, the voice cast is all good and there's consistent laughs throughout. There's also 'Mooned', the 9-min 'Despicable Me' tie-in at the start of the film, which kids seemed to love.

If there's one thing I took away from Migration (2023), it's that Illumination has finally matured as an animation studio. Sure, just like there's a Disney/Pixar/DreamWorks "style," Illumination has a look to the characters in their movies (especially the humans) that makes them immediately distinguishable. In Migration, there was less of that distinctive style, but the freedom to match what the movie needed to tell its original story about a family adventure. If this is what taking risks looks like, then I think it was a successful foray into more original fare.

The voice acting was superb, mostly because there were only a few characters whose voices were immediately obvious who they were. I do wonder if director Benjamin Renner's previous work, Ernest & Celestine (2012), helped shape some of the voice acting decisions, because they certainly fit the characters well. The animation also feeling closer to a 2D traditionally animated film while still being completely 3D CGI was a nice touch that set it apart from other animated movies (but not quite as extremely as Into the Spider-Verse (2018) or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) have done).

And while the plot wasn't anything to fly home about, the core lessons it was trying to get across were solid enough for any kids watching to understand what it was trying to say. Even the more childish gags that are common for this kind of film were fairly rare, which felt refreshing considering the studio this film came from. Of course, this also was helped by a pretty good villain that drove most of the movie's later conflict. Kids might be scared at a few points, but my daughter seemed to enjoy it overall.

A cute family adventure from Illumination, I give Migration 3.5 stars out of 5.