Migration | 2023 | PG | – 1.2.1

Why is “Migration” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “action/peril and mild rude humor.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of flirting and dancing scenes, several scenes of peril during a migration and a few encounters with a ruthless chef determined to prepare ducks for consumption, discussions of adventure and taking risks, a couple of arguments, and some name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Animated adventure about a family of mallard ducks that decides to undertake a big adventure by migrating to Jamaica for the first time, not realizing what’s in store and how their lives will be forever changed. With the voices of Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Danny DeVito, Caspar Jennings, Tresi Gazal, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, Carol Kane, David Mitchell and Isabela Merced. Directed by Benjamin Renner & Guylo Homsy. [Running Time: 1:32]

Migration SEX/NUDITY 1

 – Two ducks dance, spin around a dance floor and later dance on a beach. A girl duck hugs a boy duck in greeting. A boy duck and a girl duck shake wings as a greeting and the boy seems smitten. A duck tells a boy duck, “I’m so sorry you can’t have babies with her,” about another duck.

Migration VIOLENCE/GORE 2

 – Many ducks are led into a truck that will take them to be processed for food; a young duck tries to convince them not to go and a man steps on his wing and pins his neck under a carving fork until another duck flaps in the man’s face and he lets the young duck go (his wing is injured and he cannot fly), and the ducks that had been on the truck trample over the man (we see him with a bandage on his nose later).
► A man in a helicopter grabs a cage with ducks in it, one duck bites his nose and he yells, other ducks throw fruit and vegetables at him and he is struck hard in the face with a gourd causing him to fall on a switch that opens a hatch (he falls out and dangles from a cable). Two ducks trapped in a cage fall out of a helicopter and careen toward the ground until two other ducks arrive and release them from the cage. A man flying a helicopter searches for ducks and when he finds them, drops a net over them, pulls them up into the helicopter and locks them in cages. A duck sneaks through a kitchen and falls into a pot of water that is put on a stove over a flame, then into another pot that is prepared for the oven and he holds another duck’s tail as she reaches for a key hanging on a wall; they fall and engage a fire extinguisher that sprays foam around the room and people slip and fall.
► A family of ducks takes off and flies through mountains until lightning flashes in the sky and rain pours down forcing them to seek shelter on the ground where they are taken by a heron to a cabin where they sleep in a frying pan and fear being eaten. A heron snaps at two small ducks and two adult ducks pull on its legs to make her let them go; a giant fish lunges up out of the water and snatches the two ducks in its mouth, the heron squeezes the fish and it spits the ducks out (we see the fish in a pot but no one else is harmed). A duck picks up a sandwich from the ground and is surrounded and then swarmed by many pigeons; we hear a voice bellowing from a tunnel and a small pigeon emerges threatening several ducks to hand over the sandwich and they negotiate terms. A pigeon takes off from a sidewalk and is struck by a bus, then a truck and finally a scooter tossing her around (we see her OK later).
► A man spins a knife in his hand and slams it into a butcher block threateningly in a couple of scenes. A man tastes a dish held by another man in a restaurant’s kitchen, flings the dish out of the man’s hands and it shatters against the wall. A man with a knife in his hands walks through a room looking for ducks and the ducks knock the man down, another bird flies out a window and the ducks follow.
► A family of ducks flies through cloud cover and into a city filled with skyscrapers, they nearly crash into bridges and fall over a roof into speeding traffic on the streets below where they dodge buses and trucks and crash into a garbage pile where a rat snarls at them. A duck is stuck in a crane’s apparatus, falls wrapped in a flag toward the ground, and crashes in a park; another ducks proclaims, “He led a good life,” as another duck hits him in the back of the head with her wing. A bird of paradise is shown locked in a large cage and he cries longingly for his family. Many ducks fly away from danger and collapse to the ground in a pile.
► A large flock of ducks swoops over a pond and lands telling other ducks at the pond that they should join them to migrate south; the other ducks decline. A duck tells his two ducklings a story about ducklings leaving the safety of their pond and venturing “right into the arms of predators” as we see a depiction of the ducklings being attacked and squished by a heron (we see the small duck crumpled). A duck tells another duck that when he tells their children scary stories, their young daughter wets her bed. A heron quizzes ducks about whether they think “herons are not good enough.” A pigeon says, “You ducks make me sick.” A pigeon describes a chef as “a predator that feeds you to a bunch of much lazier predators.” A pigeon describes duck à l’orange to a young duck that is afraid of being eaten. A duck yells at his son for taking risks to try to help them and the young duck walks away saddened. A young duck flies in a flock and nearly falls asleep; her father puts her on his back. A young duck wants to bring a crocodile with her when her family is going to another place; we see her holding the croc with a leash.
► A duck tries to unlock a cage using a key when another duck hits him on the back and the first duck swallows the key; other ducks jump on his abdomen to get him to spit out the key. A duck hits another duck in the head with a shovel a couple of times. Two ducks are trapped on a dance floor and dodge people’s feet and shoes by dancing with them. Ducks play around a large pond and we see them launched into the air by a tree branch flinging them and they plop to the ground and one lands on another duck’s back and bounces. A duck is lifted up and down off the ground not realizing that he is sitting on another duck’s abdomen while he is sleeping. A duck is shown with a snail on his head. A duck tells another duck that he will find himself “totally alone.” A young duck pleads with her uncle to join them on a migration, she squeals, and her eyes roll in her head before he acquiesces. A heron snaps a fly out of the air with its beak. A pigeon picks something out of her teeth using a talon. A pigeon blows its beak and makes a honking sound. Several birds follow the sound of voices into a barn where we see many ducks participating in an exercise and meditation class.
► A young duck complains about having to go to the bathroom while flying and another duck says, “We have a number 2 situation”; she and her family land and the young duck hides in the bushes to go to the bathroom but says, “Someone’s watching,” and we see an eye painted on a wooden door. A young duck says she wants to go to Titicaca.

Migration LANGUAGE 1

 – 1 mild scatological term, name-calling (psycho killer, stupid idea, stick in the mud, trashy vermin, chump, stupid, death trap, gross, doomed, hopeless, country bumpkins), exclamations (I swear, I’ve created a monster, busting your bills, oh wow, oh gosh, thank goodness), 1 religious exclamation (a duck farm is described as “Heaven for ducks”). | profanity glossary |

Migration SUBSTANCE USE

 – None.

Migration DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Migration, fear of change, adventure, exploration, disappointment, bravery.

Migration MESSAGE

 – When everything seems hopeless, be optimistic.

(Note: An animated short film titled “Mooned” precedes the feature and contains the following: News segments report about the “best bad guy” with a “despicable agenda” and that the moon has been stolen, a man blasts off on a rocket-propelled vessel, crashes into another vessel several times and is propelled to Mars and uses a mild scatological term, a vehicle rolls back and forth over a man as he yells and he looks flattened, a man finds himself on the moon with no way back to Earth and utters a mild scatological term, a machine collapses on a man’s foot and he screams, a man’s spacesuit fills with air and he floats like a balloon until the suit pops and he is slammed into a rock repeatedly, a man tries to jump back to Earth and another character bumps into him and knocks him back down to the moon’s surface, a man yells at other characters saying, “Leave me alone” and “Go away,” a man calls a machine a “piece of junk,” a man trapped on the moon says, “I’m gonna die,” a man removes his suit and we see his underwear, bare chest, abdomen, back and legs, and a character sips a drink through a straw and out of a martini glass. It is rated PG for some rude material.)