In spite of the pedigree of White as writer (and yes, it is that Mike White, of “The White Lotus” and “School of Rock”), and Benjamin Renner as director (following up on his very sweet and tender 2014 animated film “Ernest & Celestine”), “Migration” rarely approaches a level of excitement or creativity that might be hoped for with a big-budget animated feature. There are, of course, obstacles in the Mallards’ way of getting to their vacation spot, but the only true antagonist is a vicious, carnivorous designer chef whom the Mallards enrage while he’s in the middle of an evening in his kitchen. (The fact that this chef never says a word feels less like an artistic choice and more like a sign of the studio or Universal Pictures being unwilling to cast someone in a clear villainous role.)
The cast is about as predictably OK as possible; the only notable casting choice is that of Carol Kane as a strange heron, primarily because it means that Kane and DeVito have a reunion of sorts decades after co-starring in the sitcom “Taxi.” Nanjiani and Banks are fine, doing roughly exactly what you would expect in fairly one-dimensional roles. Keegan-Michael Key gets to flex slightly as a caged Jamaican parrot only too willing to help out the Mallards as long as he can join them and return to his home. Awkwafina (who has now appeared in features from at least six different animation studios, and apparently will be appearing in Laika’s next film, getting her much closer to filling out her animated film bingo card) is, like Nanjiani and Banks, doing the bare minimum of what anyone would expect as a tough-talking pigeon who feels like a blend of Kevin Hart’s chatty bunny in the “Secret Life of Pets” films and one of the Goodfeathers from “Animaniacs”.
It feels like a guarantee that each year, studios wait until the back half of the calendar to release more animated films. It’s one of the reasons why Illumination’s last film, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” did so well — as much as the film benefited from a world-renowned intellectual property, there was also no competition at the multiplex for months. “Migration” is not going to be so lucky, arriving a week after “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” and two weeks after Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron.” It is a weird coincidence that all three of these films are somewhat avian in nature, just as it’s coincidental that “Migration” — like “Dawn of the Nugget” — has a sequence in which farmers attempt to herd animals to their doom or that it — like “The Boy and the Heron” — features the eponymous bird as a potential antagonist. Coincidences and box-office futures aside, “Migration” arrives for the Christmas holiday but does so in a relatively dull fashion. The competition at the multiplex is fierce this month. There are unquestionably better animated films you should be watching. “Migration” doesn’t hit the mark.
/Film Rating: 3 out of 10