{"id":152430,"date":"2023-12-26T06:28:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T20:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/?p=152430"},"modified":"2023-12-26T09:47:03","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T23:47:03","slug":"migration-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblurb.com.au\/wp\/migration-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Migration – movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fun-filled, animated adventure, Migration focuses on a family of four wild ducks, also known as mallards. This is a delightful, humorous film, with much to commend it. The story is from Mike White (who wrote the screenplay) and Benjamin Renner (who directed the film, alongside Guylo Homsy).<\/p>\n

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The father of this ducky brood is Mack (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani). He takes a safety-first approach and doesn\u2019t want his two ducklings to stray from the pond in New England where they live. To ram home the message, he tries to scare son Dax (Caspar Jennings) and daughter Gwen (Tresi Gazal) into submission. His wife, Pam (Elizabeth Banks), is none too happy about that, for \u2013 like their son \u2013 she\u2019d like to explore the world. They nearly get the chance when Dax befriends a bird in a migratory flock heading for Jamaica that visits the lake to rest. But again, Mack steps in to spoil the party.<\/p>\n

Finally though that changes after Uncle Dan (Danny DeVito) drops in and inadvertently reinforces what a dull life he has led. So, off the family set \u2013 with Uncle Dan in tow \u2013 only to be met by a series of challenges. The fly headlong into a wild storm and are met by hungry, ageing herons, before confronting the pitfalls of New York City. They fall foul of pigeons and incur the wrath of a persistent and volatile chef \u2026 and I\u2019ve just brushed the surface. More than once their lives are threatened.\u00a0 Nevertheless, their journey to the Caribbean continues and Mack learns a valuable life lesson about letting go.<\/p>\n

I loved the personalities imbued into the characters. My undoubted favourite was Gwen, with Tresi Gazal delivering a series of cute one-liners that land each time. The interplay between brother and sister is what you would typically expect between siblings that don\u2019t always see eye to eye. I appreciated the feisty but soft underbelly of Chump the pigeon (Awkafina) and red macaw Delroy\u2019s (Keegan-Michael Key) desperate quest for freedom.<\/p>\n