Migration: Movie Review

Vocal cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, Danny DeVito

Director: Benjamin Renner, Guylo Homsy

Illumination's latest movie may start off with a very family-led story, but it's not long before the madcap antics the studio's been associated with before come to the fore.

Silicon Valley's Nanjiani plays Mack Mallard, an anxious father of a brood of mallard ducks who spend every year in the same pond during Migration season. However, Mack's wife Pam (Banks, in a peppy turn) longs to have an adventure and see the world.

One day, when Mack gets a glimpse into his potentially frightening future, he decides to gather up the family and head out for the migration season - but the family end up in a whirlwind of adventure and misfortune.

Migration has a slow burn appeal that's led by the geniality of its cast, and which is nearly toppled by the banality of its premise.

Yet once the mallards leave the pond, the film embraces its episodic structure and throws together something that both brings the humour and the darker edges that a story about a family afraid to fly the coop should offer.

It helps that Nanjiani's mix of both awkwardness and anxiety coalesce well with his warmth as an actor, giving his father figure an understandable concern about loss, separation and wanting to protect others.

It also helps that Illumination provides both the requisite amount of sight gags and some unexpected laughs throughout a series of unexpected confrontations and the anthropomorphising of many of the animals throughout; Awkwafina's New York pigeon being one of the highlights.

Blessed with a soaring score and a keen sense of brevity, Migration feels like it hits the family viewing holiday sweet spot - it may not linger massively in the memory once it's done, but it does prove to be an enjoyable time as it plays out.