Shadow Reviews #24: Migration (2023)

Instructions

My Review: ⭐⭐ Illumination needs to step up their game. They’ve made their name with Despicable Me and some of their films are genuine classics (Minions and Sing are two films in particular I enjoy, the former requires no critical justification – it’s literally a movie about Minions in the 60s, I love it) – however, this doesn’t excuse films that lack proper and defined development. In other words, a brand name can’t be the excuse for mediocre cinema. And that’s the trap that I’m afraid Illumination is falling into. From the very notion of the movie, I think we all can tell that Migration is borrowing a concept from Rio – another notable CGI film about birds. In fact, the premise is eerily similar to Rio 2, suggesting we can rule out originality as a prospect of the film. The characters are well acted, that could have been a strong suit of the film. In particular, I thought that Keegan-Micheal Key and Awkwafina did fantastic as usual. The movie adequately superimposes a modern family in the form of ducks, which is amusing and entertaining enough. The character of Gwen was interesting; I saw her as an accurate portrayal of a lot of little kids. None of the characters ever stray too far from the archetypes, but I suppose this is a movie that doesn’t need to be incredibly inventive. But compared to the other characters created by Illumination, these characters pale terribly in comparison. Thus, this neutralizes what should have been a boon to the film's quality. The plotline was ridiculous. It’s widely forgettable, or worse, it’s something that you’d get sick of watching again. I wasn’t surprised at all, really. There weren’t any major twists and turns – neither much emotional resonance till the third act; everything was pretty formulaic. The major antagonistic drive was literally an evil chef; he never even spoke, and I particularly despise villains without real motivation. It reminded me of the villain of Secret Life of Pets 2 – another Illumination film I didn’t particularly enjoy. Something about the story just reeked bland and generic… which is sad coming from a studio that has produced some genuine original stories. Nevertheless, Illumination yet again produces a film with aesthetic quality – that is, a genuine art style that’s reeling with detail. Illumination never produces a film that lacks ingenuity regarding the visual aspect – their animation is revolutionary and stunning as per usual. So if you’re going to watch this film, watch it for the animation – and maybe Keegan-Micheal Key. Otherwise, keep your flock far away from this film – it’s for the birds. Ugh. What I watched it on: DVD Other critics: Rotten Tomatoes: 73% Metacritic: 56, "mixed or average"