Be they waggling with mischief or furrowing warily, Kumail Nanjiani’s eyebrows should win awards for their epic expressiveness. The animators of Illumination’s Migration were wise to re-create them on the character Nanjiani voices here, even if – not to get too technical – mallard ducks don’t typically sport furry brows.
Nanjiani’s Mack is paterfamilias of the Mallard family, and wariness is his default setting. Along with wife Pam (Banks), ducklings Dax (Jennings) and Gwen (Gazal), and weird Uncle Dan (DeVito), he lives a quiet life in the country. Though Mack is content to never leave the safety of their pond, the rest of the family – hungering for adventure, threatening open revolt – convinces him to migrate south for winter.
If I may, for a moment, play the part of a stick in the mud: It’s ludicrous in the year 2023 to make a whole movie about migrating birds and not explicitly acknowledge the impacts of climate change and light pollution on their journey. The sole nod to real-world concerns comes when the family – drawn to investigate a mysterious red light – accidentally winds up in Manhattan, but that’s played purely for plot shenanigans. It’s on you, then, Parental Units, to use the film as an opportunity for a teachable moment.
The spoonful of sugar? Migration is otherwise a thoroughly charming picture. Working from a story co-credited to director Benjamin Renner (a French animator who co-directed 2012’s Oscar-nominated Ernest & Celestine), Mike White wrote the script, channeling the family film instincts that made School of Rock so winning. The PG rating hasn’t defanged his sense of humor: There’s a roided-out, homicidal chef tracking the Mallards that honestly would fit right in with the lunatics of The White Lotus. The voicework is lively – Nanjiani and Awkwafina, playing a street-tough Central Park pigeon, are especially good – and suffused with warmth; you believe these birds are family, and that their love inspires each other to challenge their boundaries and become their best versions. If that all sounds a little hifalutin for a cartoon, maybe I’m still dizzy from the high altitudes. Thrillingly airborne and a riot of color, Migration’s many scenes of flying are an absolute joy.
The short film “Mooned” – featuring Vector from Despicable Me and various Minions – screens before the film.
This article appears in December 22 • 2023.
