Bonus: Migration

[00:00:00] Bonus Daily

[00:00:02] Let's get to the new Illumination Entertainment Film Migration.

[00:00:06] This is directed by Benjamin Renner and Guglio Homsi, stars Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks,

[00:00:15] Isabelle Merced, Danny DeVito, Carol Kane, Aquafina, Kegan-Michael Key, David Mitchell,

[00:00:23] few others.

[00:00:25] And the synopsis is a family of ducks try to convince their overprotective father

[00:00:29] to go on the vacation of a lifetime.

[00:00:32] So for anyone who has listened to the show for a while, I love Illumination Entertainment.

[00:00:36] I don't think all of their movies are amazing, but I'm a huge Despicable Me and Minions fan.

[00:00:42] I have no shame in saying that I love those movies.

[00:00:46] But when it comes to their other stuff, I don't think there are other films or masterpieces

[00:00:51] or anything about it, but there's something about ironically the lighting.

[00:00:55] I love the look of Illumination Animation, but there's something about the tone of those

[00:01:01] movies like this one, Sing and a couple of the others that they've done, The Grinch,

[00:01:08] that they just boost my mood more so than a lot of other animated films that come

[00:01:14] out.

[00:01:15] Like some people rag on Illumination Entertainment for doing, I guess, more generic sort of

[00:01:23] animated films.

[00:01:24] And I guess I can see that criticism from a very broad perspective, however, at the same

[00:01:32] time, I'm not upset that a studio wants to do kind of normal accessible animated films

[00:01:38] because I think there's still a lot of creativity there.

[00:01:41] And this movie, I didn't have like an immediate urge to see it.

[00:01:45] I didn't see it in theaters.

[00:01:47] I just saw it a few days ago on demand.

[00:01:50] And I do think at the end of the day, it's not an amazing movie.

[00:01:55] It's not anywhere near despicable me.

[00:01:58] I do think it's better than the Secret Life of Pets films, which I'm not huge fans

[00:02:02] of, but it is still a little forgettable.

[00:02:05] I think what was interesting is it's directed by the guy who did Ernest and

[00:02:10] Celestine, which is a indie animated film, which I love.

[00:02:14] I saw that years ago.

[00:02:15] I was like, oh, cool.

[00:02:16] Like he's getting to do this big studio movie.

[00:02:19] Awesome.

[00:02:20] And I don't know if he's perhaps due to the studio world.

[00:02:25] It felt like he didn't really get to go full on in terms of his own style.

[00:02:30] But I'm sure he was just happy enough to get a huge movie under his belt.

[00:02:35] I know I would be.

[00:02:36] But I think the movie, it glides along pretty well.

[00:02:40] It's only about 80 minutes.

[00:02:41] But also I feel like that's sort of a bad thing.

[00:02:43] I think I could have used an extra 20 minutes or so in this movie.

[00:02:46] It felt like by the time the movie ended, I was like, wait, it's already over.

[00:02:50] Like it's already wrapping up because usually I'm never encouraging a movie

[00:02:56] or wishing a movie was longer.

[00:02:58] But I think in this case, I wish it was by a little bit.

[00:03:01] But for what's there, it's charming.

[00:03:03] It's fun.

[00:03:04] It looks really, really good.

[00:03:06] I love the color palette, the greens and oranges and golds.

[00:03:09] I love that.

[00:03:09] I think Kumail Nanjiani is hilarious.

[00:03:12] I love him.

[00:03:13] I like Elizabeth Banks.

[00:03:14] I mean, the whole cast is excellent, but probably the biggest issue for me

[00:03:18] and maybe it comes down to subjective perspectives.

[00:03:22] But I think the despicable me and Minion's movies are hilarious.

[00:03:27] And in this one, the cast is good.

[00:03:30] I think that the humor, though, sort of is lacking.

[00:03:34] It just was not that funny.

[00:03:37] It went along so quickly.

[00:03:39] It didn't have much time to breathe.

[00:03:40] And I felt like overall, the script was not amazing.

[00:03:44] That didn't really allow the performers to make this movie truly funny,

[00:03:48] like memorably funny as some of the others are.

[00:03:51] So it won't ever be a movie that I'm highly recommending

[00:03:55] or thinking it's best of the decade, but it really did make me feel a little bit better.

[00:04:00] It's just something about being in that world.

[00:04:01] I love talking animals.

[00:04:03] The story is very, very simple.

[00:04:06] There's not much plot.

[00:04:07] It's mainly just this father who's scared to do anything

[00:04:10] and his family having to encourage him to literally spread his wings.

[00:04:14] And then he develops courage, spoiler.

[00:04:17] But all that works for me.

[00:04:20] The sequence in I believe New York City, where they suddenly come across

[00:04:23] the city and they get lost and there's the whole restaurant scene.

[00:04:27] I thought that was probably the best part of the movie.

[00:04:30] He got Michael Key is hilarious as this Jamaican parrot.

[00:04:34] Love that.

[00:04:35] So there are some good moments and it's one that I could easily just pop

[00:04:39] on, have on the background as a distraction, make me feel a little bit

[00:04:43] better about my day, that sort of thing.

[00:04:45] But not as amazing as I think it could be, not as good as some other recent

[00:04:50] animated films in the same vein.

[00:04:52] But also one thing I do appreciate about elimination is that

[00:04:57] they do take things like Despicable Me, Sing and a few others.

[00:05:02] And this one where it's not based on some previous IP or anything.

[00:05:08] They may turn into a franchise, but it's still its own little one off film

[00:05:13] in its own world.

[00:05:15] And so that I appreciate it's they're trying to tell at least in some ways

[00:05:19] original stories.

[00:05:20] So that's something I do really like about illumination

[00:05:23] in comparison to a lot of other similar studios.

[00:05:26] So do check it out if you like animation,

[00:05:28] if you like any of the things I've already said, I would give it a look.

[00:05:31] Won't blow you away, I think, but it will still be a good time.

[00:05:34] So that is a three out of five.