Migration Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Migration Blu-ray Movie Review

"It's not about migration. It's about adventure!"

Illumination's 'Migration' lands on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal. The disc contains over 60 minutes of supplemental materials that include three new mini-movies - two featuring the 'Minions' - as well as an assortment of making-of and craft-related features. This release includes a DVD disc. An embossed slipcover and a Digital Code are also included.

Migration opens with a bedtime story, as Mack (Kumail Nanjiani) tells a tale of his own imagining to his ducklings Gwen (Tresi Gazal) and Dax (Caspar Jennings). It's a poor creation and one that's intended to transfer his fears and neuroses onto his children. Luckily, his wife Pam (Elizabeth Banks) comes in to save the night by providing a happier ending than the murderous finale Mack intended. It's fitting in its way that this is how the film opens, as Migration is, at its core a bedtime story. It's got a colorful cast of characters with the focus being, in this case, two small children learning about the world around them. The plot is linear and easy to follow with just enough peril to provide some necessary tension, but never enough to terrify anyone to the point of needing to sleep with the lights on. Nor will it make any small child wet their twigs, in the film's parlence. Along the way, we're safely taught valuable lessons through the guise of birds journeying south for the winter, and in Migration, there are several key messages. Acceptance of others despite their differences is critical, as in the film it's not just birds of a feather that flock together, and the increasingly diverse flock need each other in order to survive. Travel is critical to understanding the world around us and our place in it, with it being patently unwise to remain in our own small pond with a narrow worldview. Prejudices and stereotypes should not be considered as facts. And finally, help those in need when and how you can. It's an ambitious list of life lessons to find in a film about cartoon ducks that clocks in at just over 80 minutes by the time the credits end.

The start of the film sees Mallard Mack(Kumail Nanjiani) wanting to stay with his family in the safe little pond where they live for the rest of their lives. When they receive an invitation to fly south to Jamaica with another flock of birds, to the dismay of his wife Pam and children Dax and Gwen, he can't decline fast enough. After a late-night conversation with Uncle Dan (Danny DeVito) he comes to realize the folly of his position and he wakes the family early the following morning to set out to the Caribbean nation. In the midst of a rainstorm, the family shelters with a heron named Erin, voiced by the quirky and gifted Carol Kane, who is perhaps the film's most unexpected and inspired casting decision. When the storm has passed, the family arrives in New York City's Central Park where they meet the pigeon Chump (Awkwafina), daringly rescue scarlet macaw and Jamaican native Delroy (Keegan-Michael Key), and eventually come into the company of guru duck GooGoo (David Mitchell) and his flock. Other than travel-related peril and misadventures, the real menace of the film is provided by a Chef whose specialty is, naturally, duck à l'orange, and he views Mack, his family, and his friends as his most necessary ingredients. Working together, the birds try to find their way to Jamaica and off of the menu.

The plot of the film isn't overly challenging or complex. In fact, for a film titled Migration, it isn't even really about the journey from somewhere north of New York City to Jamaica. Instead, it's largely episodic and more about the people, that is birds, that Mack and his family meet along the way. The ultimate destination, beyond providing the impetus to leave the safety of the pond, is largely secondary to stops they make along the way. It's each of these stops, these detours and their resultant adventures, that affords them a chance to confront their fears, breakdown their prejudices and preconceived notions, and incrementally become a better person, err, bird. A talented voice cast is the substance behind the flash. Kumail Nanjiani (of the ill-regarded Eternals) performs admirably as Mack, a duck with as much to prove to himself as to his family. Through his voice, we witness his transformation from a nervous and fearful duck happy to stay confined to a very small pond, into a brave and confident citizen of the world who becomes a better father and husband as a result. Caspar Jennings (Dax) and Tresi Gazal (Gwen) provide the film with heart and some very authentic sibling interaction. The real standout of the cast should come as no surprise - Keegan-Michael Key of Key and Peele fame. He fills the role of Delroy with exuberant joy, crackling energy, and an irrepressible presence that is hard to match. The most significant shortcoming of the story and its cast is that Awkwafina and Carol Kane could and should have had more to do beyond their small, location-specific roles. Awkwafina's delivery and stylings provided some much-appreciated texture and diversity to the voice cast, and like Key, her inherent energy is both infectious and impossible to contain. There is some comfort, perhaps, in the fact that she returns in her role as Chump in one of the mini-movies found on the disc. Conversely, it's not Kane's energy but her subtlety and nuance that fuels her success as Erin. Even though her character lives in a shack that any 80s slasher villain would have gladly called home, it's her delivery and her mastery of her craft that enables her to keep us on edge. Her line readings are benevolent and menacing, nurturing and threatening in equal measure. It's only time and her eventual actions that slowly reveal her true nature, and the entirety of the time we are left waiting in limbo is filled with a giddy tension. Finding a way to bring either or both of these actors along on the journey would have been to the film's betterment.

Migration Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Migration receives a very strong 1080p MPEG-4 AVC transfer. Yellows and blues found in the ducks' beaks and feathers in the opening scenes pop as do the greens in Mack and Dax's heads. The fall colors around the pond and in Central Park, are resplendent with yellows, golds, and oranges that look authentic and realistic. The family's departure from the pond provides an opportunity for the film to stretch its wings and display some convincing depth and really draw the viewer in, and it does so again during their arrival and journey through New York City and, finally, during their excited trip around Jamaica. The whites found in certain elements of the clouds that the family flies through on their journey display a certain amount of brilliance, and blacks are largely satisfying. Feathers yield a delightful level of detail with Erin the heron's slightly disheveled look displaying an appropriate level of dirt and frizz. Likewise, the bread in the sandwich that Uncle Dan finds in Central Park reveals a lifelike texture, as does the pavement of the path where Mack has his initial meeting with Chump and the other pigeons. It's riddled pockmarks, divots, and subtle gradations of color that allow it to be rendered with a realistic tactile quality. Neon lights in and around New York City are vibrant and precise. It's an excellent presentation that is free from defects or concerns.

Migration Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For as alive and colorful as Migration's Dolby Vision presentation is, the English Dolby Atmos track is almost staid by comparison. Once past the intial bedtime story framing, immersive music plays over the opening credits. Then, like a feather in the wind, it's gone. Immersion isn't continuous, as is the case with some features, and I don't necessarily need it to be. But I would rather have liked the track to leverage the surrounds and rears to provide some ambient nature sounds - bugs, wind, movement in the water - to better place us in the pond's environment in the opening scenes. The same holds true for when we reach the waypoints of New York City, GooGoo's nirvana, and ultimately, Jamaica. As it stands, the surrounds are not heavily utilized to this end but instead for pushing music, whether in the background or for triumphant and emotional swells at key points in the film. This isn't to say the surrounds aren't used for sound effects, but the moments are chosen carefully, such as when we are buzzed by a squadron of low-flying ducks. The track has a very satisfying low end that provides excellent depth and realism to the early rainstorm and also the, from the duck's perspective at least, thundering footsteps of Salsa Tuesday. Directionality is excellent, and dialogue is rendered faithfully and without defect. Music is precise and richly realized. It's a very solid if somewhat under-ambitious track.

Migration Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Special features found on this release are as follows:

• Fly Hard Mini-Movie (4:01) - An additional adventure with Chump as she deals with snow and tries to return a lost locket.

• Mooned Mini-Movie (8:40) - The normal rules of space do not apply as Vector deals with being marooned on the moon with a Minion.

• Midnight Mission Mini-Movie (4:52) - A small group of Minions attempt to make the dark a little less scary for Agnes in their typically madcap but well-intentioned way.

• Microphone Madness (3:11) - Watch the voice talent record snippets of their lines in the booth interspersed with clips from the film.

• Meet the Cast (15:37) - Director Benjamen Renner, Illumination Founder and CEO Chris Meledandri, and Editor Christian Gazal discuss the cast's talents and character descriptions for each of the main characters, with each of the characters covered receiving approximately 2 minutes of attention.

• Taking Flight: The Making Of (5:29) - Director Benjamen Renner, Illumination Founder and CEO Chris Meledandri, and Co- Director Guylo Homsy, and others talk about the four-year journey of making Migration.

• The Art of Flight (1:58) - See the various stages of the animation process that brought the birds of Migration to life.

• How to Draw (10:33) - The artistically inclined can learn how to draw Mack, Delroy, Chump, and Gwen with Director Benjamin Renner in Paris' Illumination Studios.

• Build Your Own Pop-Up Book (11:07) - Lean five easy methods to add movement to your very own pop-up book with items found at your local craft store.

• Calling All Birds (5:34) - In this crafty feature, fans can learn how to make three different bird calls inspired by the characters of Migration.

• Best Nests (5:47) - The final craft feature explains how to make a bird nest with items found in your yard or hardware store. Once that's done, viewers can make a water feeder with some supplies commonly found at home or the local craft store.

Migration Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Never as mischievous and subversive as some of the other animated films in their catalog, Illumination's Migration is playful, sweet, and very well-crafted family entertainment. A capable voice cast, highlighted by the work of Carol Kane, Awkwafina, and Keegan-Michael Key, leads us on a journey filled with mild risk and great heroic potential. It's a route filled with detours that is never simply "as the crow flies". Fantastically and fancifully animated with an astonishingly engaging Dolby Vision presentation, the stunning visuals never fail to capture and hold the viewer's attention even in the film's slower moments. The Dolby Atmos track is very good, even if it is a bit underutilized. While the bulk of the special features are about as light and fluffy as eiderdown, fans of all ages will no doubt enjoy the three mini-movies, and artsy pre-teens will find some fun in the drawing and craft segments. Filled with heart, this bedtime story brought to life comes Highly Recommended.