Migration (2023)

Following the original Despicable Me, Illumination has had a very spotty track record in terms of story quality, with incredible highs with The Super Mario Bros. Movie and varying lows with films like The Secret Life of Pets and Minions. What they have consistently improved on, however is their animation quality, to the point where I had some interest in viewing their latest film, Migration, for that sole reason, preferably without spending too much money in the endeavor. Fortunately, I got the chance to watch it as an offering of free in-flight (heh) entertainment, even if the airline made me watch it on my phone (RIP phone battery). Unfortunately, while Migration is a visual step up from Illumination's usual output, the story holds it back from really spreading its wings.

Ernest & Celestine

Note: This review contains spoilers for Ernest & Celestine.

While researching The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales, I learned more about an animated film called Ernest & Celestine (French: Ernest et Célestine), based on a series of Belgian children’s books by Gabrielle Vincent. The visuals and the premise of a mouse and bear becoming friends in spite of interspecies prejudice were enough to make me curious about seeing it, which became possible once I received the Blu-ray from GKIDS as a Christmas gift. Notably, while it originally premiered in 2012, its stateside release in 2013 made it eligible for the 2014 Academy Awards, where it was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film and ultimately lost to Disney’s Frozen. After finally watching Ernest & Celestine, I am honestly baffled as to how it even lost to Frozen in the first place.

The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales

I first heard about The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales (French: Le Grand Méchant Renard et autres contes…) when I stumbled upon it while browsing the Shout! Factory website, then read about it further through the GKIDS website. What really captured my attention was the unique art style and the premise of the title story, in which a fox ends up mothering chicks while raising them to be food. I then found out that it was partly based on a graphic novel, The Big Bad Fox by co-director Benjamin Renner, and that Renner had also been a director on the acclaimed French animated film Ernest & Celestine, which also caught my interest. Sometime later, I received both The Big Bad Fox and The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales as a birthday gift, deciding to read the original comic before watching the movie to see how accurate the adaptation was. Regardless of its creative liberties, I absolutely enjoyed the movie and thought it worked perfectly on its own merits.