Tweet
This is another yuk-fest from the fine folks at Illumination, creators of the Minions and the Despicable Me series.
The movie seems to have stemmed from a very short meeting in which somebody said "Let's make a movie about a bunch of ducks migrating, and we'll stick them in funny situations along the way, you know, like they almost get turned into duck dinners and stuff like that." "Brilliant, Fred! Greenlight that sucker!"
It's really kind of a fun watch, once it gets moving, and it has some fine animation, and it's a rare movie that seems to have been made with 3-D in mind. We don't have 3-D anymore, but I found myself wishing I could see this in 3-D.
The story is simplicity itself. A family of ducks has a nice safe existence in this boring pond and of course, they all long for adventure -- except Dad, who's afraid of his own shadow and tells his kids bedtime stories that are designed to scare them into never leaving the safety of the pond. One day a flock of migrating ducks stops by for a rest, and the young ducklings decide to introduce themselves to the visitors, whereupon they find out that the migrating ducks are headed to Jamaica where they'll relax in the sun and score some really killer weed. This of course horrifies Dad, because he gets plenty of good weed right there in the pond. After a scene in which Mom basically threatens Dad with a duck divorce if he doesn't lighten up a bit, he finally agrees that they'll all head to Jamaica to have a fun adventure and get as stoned as shit.
Okay, the weed or getting stoned aren't actually mentioned, but there certainly was some weed being consumed when the filmmakers came up with the supporting characters in this film. Especially the lead bad guy, an evil chef who, it seems, will go to just about any lengths to make sure he has a good supply of ducks for his restaurant. He is hands down the goofiest looking bad guy in any animated movie ever. He is quite threatening at times, I'll give him that.
The other supporting characters are forgettable. Danny DeVito plays "Uncle Dan," an old duck who doesn't seem to be there for any particular reason. Awkwafina plays a pigeon in a big city, who helps our heroes find a caged macaw, or maybe he's a parrot or something, who will help them get to Jamaica. She deserved more screen time, especially because nearly the entirety of her one scene was in the trailers.
Keegan Michael Key and Elizabeth Banks are both in the movie but I'll be damned if I can tell you who they played. (I'd look it up, but what's the point?) I never heard of the people playing the three main ducks -- Mom, Dad and Junior.... and they are all equally bland. The younger sister duck is very obnoxiously cute, both visually and vocally. By the end of the movie I wanted her to become a dinner.
The movie is refreshingly free of any messages or controversy, well except for the message that dads are stupid and the kids know better. (There are also no gay ducks, which was a surprise, but then again this isn't a Disney film.) The biggest flaw in the movie, in my view, is that Dad starts out as a real wimpy duck but within 30 minutes he's changed into a hero, but by the end he's back to being an idiot who says "you need to let the grownups figure it out" when clearly the grownups are calling the shots all wrong.
All these criticisms aside, it's a fun movie at times, especially in the last half hour. The ending is very reminiscent of the "now what?" ending in "Finding Nemo," but not nearly as well-done. I expect kids will enjoy it.
The show opens with a short called "Mooned," which has a really idiotic "young Gru"-type character being stranded on the moon with one Minion. After a really awful beginning, the short settles into some Wile-E-Coyote Looney Tunes type setups, which have the effect of making you want to leave the movie and go watch some real Road Runner cartoons.
If I was rating the movie only on the visuals, I'd give it an easy four stars. It looks great and is the best-looking bird-centric movie this side of the "Rio" films. But the story and the acting drags it down. 2.5 out of five for me. The short at the beginning has one great laugh at the end, so for that I'll give it one star.
The movie seems to have stemmed from a very short meeting in which somebody said "Let's make a movie about a bunch of ducks migrating, and we'll stick them in funny situations along the way, you know, like they almost get turned into duck dinners and stuff like that." "Brilliant, Fred! Greenlight that sucker!"
It's really kind of a fun watch, once it gets moving, and it has some fine animation, and it's a rare movie that seems to have been made with 3-D in mind. We don't have 3-D anymore, but I found myself wishing I could see this in 3-D.
The story is simplicity itself. A family of ducks has a nice safe existence in this boring pond and of course, they all long for adventure -- except Dad, who's afraid of his own shadow and tells his kids bedtime stories that are designed to scare them into never leaving the safety of the pond. One day a flock of migrating ducks stops by for a rest, and the young ducklings decide to introduce themselves to the visitors, whereupon they find out that the migrating ducks are headed to Jamaica where they'll relax in the sun and score some really killer weed. This of course horrifies Dad, because he gets plenty of good weed right there in the pond. After a scene in which Mom basically threatens Dad with a duck divorce if he doesn't lighten up a bit, he finally agrees that they'll all head to Jamaica to have a fun adventure and get as stoned as shit.
Okay, the weed or getting stoned aren't actually mentioned, but there certainly was some weed being consumed when the filmmakers came up with the supporting characters in this film. Especially the lead bad guy, an evil chef who, it seems, will go to just about any lengths to make sure he has a good supply of ducks for his restaurant. He is hands down the goofiest looking bad guy in any animated movie ever. He is quite threatening at times, I'll give him that.
The other supporting characters are forgettable. Danny DeVito plays "Uncle Dan," an old duck who doesn't seem to be there for any particular reason. Awkwafina plays a pigeon in a big city, who helps our heroes find a caged macaw, or maybe he's a parrot or something, who will help them get to Jamaica. She deserved more screen time, especially because nearly the entirety of her one scene was in the trailers.
Keegan Michael Key and Elizabeth Banks are both in the movie but I'll be damned if I can tell you who they played. (I'd look it up, but what's the point?) I never heard of the people playing the three main ducks -- Mom, Dad and Junior.... and they are all equally bland. The younger sister duck is very obnoxiously cute, both visually and vocally. By the end of the movie I wanted her to become a dinner.
The movie is refreshingly free of any messages or controversy, well except for the message that dads are stupid and the kids know better. (There are also no gay ducks, which was a surprise, but then again this isn't a Disney film.) The biggest flaw in the movie, in my view, is that Dad starts out as a real wimpy duck but within 30 minutes he's changed into a hero, but by the end he's back to being an idiot who says "you need to let the grownups figure it out" when clearly the grownups are calling the shots all wrong.
All these criticisms aside, it's a fun movie at times, especially in the last half hour. The ending is very reminiscent of the "now what?" ending in "Finding Nemo," but not nearly as well-done. I expect kids will enjoy it.
The show opens with a short called "Mooned," which has a really idiotic "young Gru"-type character being stranded on the moon with one Minion. After a really awful beginning, the short settles into some Wile-E-Coyote Looney Tunes type setups, which have the effect of making you want to leave the movie and go watch some real Road Runner cartoons.
If I was rating the movie only on the visuals, I'd give it an easy four stars. It looks great and is the best-looking bird-centric movie this side of the "Rio" films. But the story and the acting drags it down. 2.5 out of five for me. The short at the beginning has one great laugh at the end, so for that I'll give it one star.
Comment