Migration

A family of mallards heads south in Illumination’s latest cartoon that really doesn’t fly.

Sitting ducks

Bird migration is truly one of the wonders of the natural world, which is more than one can say of Illumination’s latest ‘toon. Parents hoping their wards will learn something amazing about our miraculous planet will be disappointed to encounter a rambunctious, processed time-filler. Fine as babysitting fodder, this is no classic. It’s also unfortunate that it arrives in the wake of Aardman’s’ riotously resourceful Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, as it flutters over not dissimilar ground (chicken nuggets vs. duck à l’orange).

Here we have a close-knit mallard family comprised of Pam (voiced by Elizabeth Banks) and Mack (Kumail Nanjiani) and their children Dax and Gwen (the last-named tapping into the new cult of the cute). For them, their pond is their home and their universe, an environment that is as safe as it is limited. When a fleet of migrating ducks stops by to recharge their batteries, they fill the ducklings’ heads with exotic tales of overseas travel. And, as the flock heads off South, their parting words are, “have a nice pond!” It rankles. And so Mack, a natural worryguts, has to weigh up the pros and cons of a safe life versus a life of adventure. Lessons have to be learned, the kids need to grow and Mama Mallard has to be appreciated for the daring duck she is.

All this is colourful, predictable stuff, with the film’s strongest suit being its impressive aerobatic animation. There are fly-ins with a hungry heron (Carol Kane) and all the horrors of the city (New York), which proves an unknown quantity to both Pam and Mack (although Pam seems to know where Queens is). The pigeons of Central Park are painted as the villains they are (with Awkwafina voicing the birds’ smallest yet commanding leader), while the real villain is a duck-tattooed chef prepared to go to enormous lengths to get his foie gras. Animation has come so far as an art form, that something as ordinary as this seems a waste, largely let down by its workaday script. It’s a surprise, then, to learn that the scenarist Mike White also brought us the original School of Rock (although he was also responsible for Nacho Libre, The Emoji Movie and Pitch Perfect 3 - no comment).

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Voices of  Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, Carol Kane, David Mitchell, Isabela Merced, Caspar Jennings, Tresi Gazal, Danny DeVito, Laraine Newman, Willow Geer. 

Dir Benjamin Renner, Pro Chris Meledandri, Screenplay Mike White, Pro Des Colin Stimpson, Ed Christian Gazal, Music John Powell, Sound Josh Gold. 

Illumination-Universal Pictures.
91 mins. USA/France/Canada. 2023. US Rel: 22 December 2023. UK Rel: 2 February 2024. Cert. U.