'Migration' Review: Feathery Vacation Riff Takes Flight as the Best Illumination Feature Ever Made
PG: action/peril and mild rude humor
Runtime: 1 Hour and 22 Minutes
Production Companies: Illumination
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Benjamin Renner
Writer: Mike White
Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, David Mitchell, Carol Kane, Caspar Jennings, Tresi Gazal, Danny DeVito
Release Date: December 22, 2023
Exclusively In Theaters
I'm a simple film critic. You say Illumination, I’ll scream and run in the opposite direction. It comes with the territory. They did this to themselves with their endless streak of mediocrity. It's not like I have a vendetta against the studio; it's just that they've become the McDonald's of animated features—accessible, digestible movies with good visual appeal but little substance to offer. In the past few years, it became clear that the Chris Meledandri-owned French-based animation studio was leaving the original movie game forever since they were comfortable with their S&M's: Sequels, Minions, Seuss, and Miyamoto. Their last original non-IP-based production was Sing in 2016. Seven years later, the Minion-makers finally decided to do something original with Migration, a simple point-A-to-point-B plot about mallards traveling to Jamaica for vacation. Think of it as National Lampoon for the kiddies. A Mallar-day Road, if you will. And to my surprise and pleasure, this was the best Illumination movie ever made. Yeah, even I'm shocked to admit it.
Anxiety-riddled duck-triarch Mack (Kumail Nanjiani) lives contently in his New England pond with his family––spirited wife Pam (Elizabeth Banks), adventure-hungry son Dax (Caspar Jennings), and innocent daughter Gwen (Tresi Gazal). One day, they witness another duck family passing through their pond on the way to migrate to Jamaica, sparking the family's feathers––all but Mack, who doesn't want to go. Once his kooky, sarcastic Uncle Dan (Danny DeVito) visits and assures him a timid life will make him end up as lonesome as him, he gathers the grit to fly out with the family for the Caribbean vacation of their dreams. Along the way, they encounter new venues, birds, and threats that add turbulence to their aerial road trip.
Migration bears an unexpected union with Ernest & Celestine director Benjamin Renner at the helm and The White Lotus creator Mike White penning the script. As random as that combo may seem, the duo shares a similar vision of making a timely road trip movie in the spirit of Vacation but as an action-oriented comedy. What helps Migration soar is how the duo dodges every generic Western animated movie trapping. We're talking no random pop tunes, no egregious product placements, no pop culture references, and a cast of great voice performers rather than celebrities. While Meledandri was getting his grubby hands on Mario, Renner and White got to run free without any interference.
Renner's direction emphasizes scale as the Mallard Family faces vast, unfamiliar terrains. All the shots are personalized to the Mallard family's miniature stature, evoking the feeling that you're flying high right beside them. Every aviation-based sequence heavily advances Migration's ambitious scope, for it's fun watching these birds fly amongst the clouds and gorgeously detailed vistas that capture these real locations' beauty. Perhaps this is my New Yorker coming out. Still, one standout sequence that left me breathless was an exhilarating continuous shot of the family flying into New York City's bustling Midtown area and trying to avoid becoming roadkill. Because animation is such a long process, it's incredibly epic how well crafted that entire sequence is as you feel the stakes rise for these birds navigating NYC.
With Renner's jump from 2D to 3D, his style is ever so present through Looney Tunes-type slapstick gags and big-eyed, thick-browed features from his 2D doodles carried over to every bird's design. Look up Renner's art style: big bulgy eyes, which lends itself to great expressiveness, and side-splittingly funny visual gags. It's been a long time since an Illumination movie made me continuously laugh without any Minions around, and hey, these birds do it on their own.
As aforementioned, Migration follows a simple point-A-to-point-B plot. Through each facet of the adventure, Mike White's script never forgets the family's core dynamic as the film's primary mechanic. I adored the Mallard family and their dynamic. Nanjiani's great comic line reading buoys Mack's overbearing anxiousness. His and Elizabeth Banks' spirited vocal performance as Pam had me laughing more times than expected. Their kids are far from annoying, which is a godsend because kid characters are the hardest to write.
Also, the supporting players are hilarious, primarily Keegan-Michael Key, who's doing a darned good Jamaican accent as a caged bird named Delroy, whom the birds help escape from an antagonistic chef out to cook the ducks.
Man, that silent chef villain makes it all whole. As if the movie isn't sophisticated enough, it goes out of its way to establish its own rules where only the animals talk while the humans are mute. Still, they pose a threat. Through this villainous chef, the slapstick becomes the central star as many chaotic gags involve the birds being the Road Runner to his Wile E. Coyote (too soon?), besting him at every turn while he wants to cook the heck out of them.
No part of Migration feels fresh. The movie itself is aware it’s following a blueprint. Yet, instead of adhering to what makes Western-made animated films so mediocre, Migration triumphs in its sophistication as the most anti-Illumination Illumination movie ever made. It's a prime example of what the studio should do for the future. Naturally, they won’t learn from this since their next project is Despicable Me 4, but at least Migration is a Mi-Great-Time at the movies. It's short, sweet, endlessly charming, and, most of all, timely.
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I can't believe it: 2023, the year Rendy Jones gave a Walt Disney Animation Studio production a one-star rating and an Illumination production a 4. Wow, this is hilarious. It will never happen again.
