(Kids)
A whole family trip to the cinema for this animated duck movie, written by Mike White (of The White Lotus fame) and directed and co-written by Benjamin Renner. It's a fairly simple storyline - mum and ducklings fancy a trip to Jamaica, risk-averse dad is reluctant. Of course, for the sake of the plot, dad comes around. The journey is physical as well as offering a chance to experience personal (duckal?) growth - the spirit of adventure is enhanced, and the kids, mainly the older lad, transition from childhood to adulthood.
There are numerous POV flying scenes - through clouds, between buildings in New York, in a nightmarish kitchen, down water slides, through a jungle - seriously, it's enough to make an adult dizzy. Admittedly though, it feels kind of reductive to even talk about all this as a grown up human. The colours, sounds, Looney Tunes style sight gags, are all mechanically tooled for little grommets to lap up, let's face it, this type of film isn't for the likes of me.
In saying that, I'll waffle a bit more. There's nothing too objectionable in the message, nothing too twee or cheesy in the method, but it certainly flirts with those possibilities. The voice cast is varied, some good (Danny DeVito as Uncle Dan), some miscast (Carol Kane is fine as Erin the heron, but the producers missed a trick not reuniting White with Jennifer Coolidge). And David Mitchell is wasted as GooGoo, a gormless cult leader duck. There's no sign of his stock in trade tone of outraged umbrage. Kumail Nanjiani as dad, Mack is comical enough and Elizabeth Banks as mum, Pam is just serviceable.
In saying that, I'll waffle a bit more. There's nothing too objectionable in the message, nothing too twee or cheesy in the method, but it certainly flirts with those possibilities. The voice cast is varied, some good (Danny DeVito as Uncle Dan), some miscast (Carol Kane is fine as Erin the heron, but the producers missed a trick not reuniting White with Jennifer Coolidge). And David Mitchell is wasted as GooGoo, a gormless cult leader duck. There's no sign of his stock in trade tone of outraged umbrage. Kumail Nanjiani as dad, Mack is comical enough and Elizabeth Banks as mum, Pam is just serviceable.
As noted, the wee humans will get a kick out of this but accompanying adults might need to bide their time until the next series of White's Lotus.
See also:
Illumination, the animation studio responsible for Migration, did a little better with Garth Jennings's Sing (2016). Not ducks, but chickens also feel the need to get away in Peter Lord and Nick Park's Chicken Run (2000).
(Film stills and trailer ©Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment, 2023)
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ReplyDeleteI reckon that'll be possible in Brazil or Portugal;) Or maybe when it comes to a streamer.
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