YMMV / Migration

• And You Thought It Would Fail: It has the lowest domestic opening of the studio with only $12.5 million, and people were expecting to be Illumination's first box office bomb. However, thanks to positive word of mouth and lack of strong competition for family movies (besides Wonka), it made back its $72 million budget with $269 million dollars worldwide.
• Awesome Art: Following their success at The Super Mario Bros. Movie when it comes to animation, Illumination offers us another animated movie with realistic visuals. One stand-out example being bird feathers.
• Awesome Music:
  • John Powell's score for the film has some very catchy and powerful pieces. For example, "What Else Is Out There?", which has an appropriately adventurous and whimsical feel.
  • Both tracks of the very lively salsa version of Beyoncé's "Survivor" sung by Mon Laferte
• Cliché Storm: Overprotective parent? Check. Teenage character with love interest? Check. Family bonds together throughout the film? Check. A villain chef who seeks to cook them in revenge? You bet.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: The pacing is way too fast for any character to receive any form of development. There's no explanation as to why Mack is overprotective of his family, and any emotional tension about the relationship between the ducks is brushed over in an instant.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Several people only became interested in the film to see the Despicable Me short Mooned that was packaged with it.
• Memetic Mutation: Duck Hunt: The Movie^ExplanationDue to the original Super Mario Bros. being bundled with Duck Hunt and The Super Mario Bros. Movie releasing the exact same year, people have begun joking that this movie is a movie adaptation of Duck Hunt, due to both being about ducks that have the exact same colors.
• Moe: In general, the entire Mallard family could be considered this, but Gwen in particular is utterly adorable!
• So Okay, It's Average: Par for the course for Illumination Entertainment, general reception is that it's a perfectly serviceable family film with great animation, but the story, jokes, and characters are bog-standard and predictable.
• The Woobie:
  • Gwen goes through this after Mack, Pam, Dan, Delroy and the ducks were captured by The Chef in his helicopter except for her and Dax, temporarily making her so worried about what may happen to them if they don't do anything to save them soon, which Dax soon ensures her they will save them from being cooked.
  Gwen: He's gonna cook Mom and Dad, isn't he…? And he's gonna come back for us...and he'll cook us too! I WISH WE TASTED AWFUUUUUUUUL…!
  • Delroy counts as well. He was forcefully taken from his home and kept in a cage far too small for him for what's implied to have been years and desperately misses his friends and family back in Jamacia. When the Mallards ask for directions, Delory can barely begin before he breaks down sobbing from homesickness.

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