Western Animation / Migration

Odd ducks welcome.

Mack: What sort of father would I be if I put my young fowl in harm's way for no reason except a chance at a Caribbean vacation?
Pam: A father who knows it's important for his kids to see other parts of the world! Mack, I don't want to miss out on life because you're afraid to leave this pond. This isn't about migration. It's about... adventure, seeing what else life has to offer. Is that a little scary? Sure, but isn't it worth it?

Migration is a 2023 adventure comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment, directed by Benjamin Renner (Ernest et Célestine) from a screenplay written by Mike White. It stars the voices of Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, Carol Kane, David Mitchell, Isabela Merced, Caspar Jennings, newcomer Tresi Gazal, and Danny DeVito.

The film tells the story of the Mallards, a family of ducks who spend their days paddling around their pond home in New England. One day, they are visited by another flock of ducks, who are migrating to Jamaica for the winter. The Mallards' quick-witted mother Pam thinks it would be a great idea to follow in their footsteps and go after them, as well as showing their children, moody Dax and innocent Gwen, the big wide world. However, their over-protective father Mack disagrees, because he is afraid of the dangers that might lie beyond their pond. Eventually, Mack makes the tough decision to go to Jamaica. He rounds up the Mallards, along with his cranky Uncle Dan, and they head off for their first family vacation. Unfortunately, it all goes awry as the Mallards end up coming face to face with way more dangers than Mack imagined.

Will the Mallards survive the perils and reach Jamaica?

The film was released in theaters on December 22, 2023, accompanied by the Despicable Me short film Mooned. Not to be confused with the trope, The Migration.

Previews: Announcement Teaser, Official Trailer, Official Trailer 2, Official Trailer 3

---

Migration includes examples of:

• Action Mom:
  • Pam comes up with the idea of the Mallards' multi-country flight, and often pushes her family members to overcome their fears.
    (to Mack) "I don't want to miss out on life because you're afraid to leave this pond!"
  • Mack is caught off guard by the fiery courage Pam exhibited when negotiating with Chump on how to split a delicious sandwich between them and her pigeon gang.
    (nudges Pam) "I didn't know you could be so tough."
    (Pam draws very close to Mack, staring him down in an intimidating fashion) "Really, Mack?" lowers her voice "You didn't know that?"
    (She then softens her expression and gives him a heartwarming smile.)
• Advertising by Association: The announcement teaser is mainly clips of Illumination's other franchises from Despicable Me to The Super Mario Bros. Movie before showing any footage from the film.
• Affectionate Nickname: Pam sometimes calls Gwen "Gwennie".
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg:
  • In order to convince Uncle Dan to come with her family for their migration adventure to Jamaica, Gwen gives him a long desperate “please”, to the point of overexertion and running out of breath with her eyes looking away from each other. It works.
  • Happens again at the end, with not only Gwen saying "please" again like in the beginning, but also Dax, Mack and the penguins all do the same too in order to convince Uncle Dan to let them bring the penguins back to their home in the South Pole all do the same. Lo and behold, it works again.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese version uses “Tsuki e Ikou” (Let’s Go to the Moon) by Macaroni Enpitsu as the theme song.
• Ambiguously Gay: During the film's Dance Party Ending, Uncle Dan is seen salsa dancing with Delroy.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: American posters typically show the duck family appearing nervous, but the Japanese poster depicts them happily flying through the sky.
• Anger Born of Worry: Mack explodes at Dax over his interference in an attempt to rescue the flock of domesticated ducks despite the boy's success, entirely due to him losing several flight feathers and coming a second or so away from being killed in the process.
• Animal Jingoism: Chump initially shows disdain toward the Mallards, resenting the fact that ducks are often fed by humans.
• Animal Nemesis: The Mallards (especially Mack and Pam) end up - unwillingly - becoming this to the Evil Chef, who spends most of the second half of the film hunting them down to avenge them minorly slighting his pride - twice.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Dax is rarely shown getting along with Gwen.
• Artistic License – Ornithology:
  • After having his primary feathers damaged, Dax is able regain his ability to fly by sticking the discarded feathers of the other ducks, (and one macaw), into the gaps. Not only that, but the larger feathers allow him to fly faster and more agile than normally, AND the replacement feathers last him a very long time.
  • At the film's climax, the flock briefly gets lost on the way to Jamaica, and rest in the water. Fine for the ducks, obviously, but Delroy is shown swimming alongside them easily, and even taking off out of the water with no difficulty. While real life parrots can float due to being light, they cannot swim, and their feathers aren't waterproof to allow for an easy takeoff when soaked.
  • Dax and Gwen are much smaller than their parents, but in most birds, including mallards, chicks that have reached fledgling age are close to the size and appearance of their parents to the point it might be hard to tell them apart. Gwen in particular looks only duckling size despite having adult plumage and being able to fly.
  • One of the film's gags involves Gwen needing to poop and trying to hold it in because she wants to find somewhere private to go. In reality, she'd simply go when it was time whether she wanted to or not since ducks lack sphincters and are therefore incapable of "holding it". Going while flying is normal for a bird anyhow, and there's no requirement that they need to land to go.
  • Mallards are classified as an r-selected species, meaning they produce large numbers of offspring, with females usually laying 8 to 13 eggs at a time. Pam and Mack were obviously limited to having only Dax and Gwen as designing and animating an exorbitant number of ducklings would've been unreasonable. Also, unlike many waterfowl, mallards are not monogamous; they don't form family units and only the female cares for the young.
  • Pam remarks that Mack's scary bedtime stories cause Gwen to "wet her twig bed," and later on during their journey, Gwen is gripped with the urge to go number 2. Birds are locked in to excreting liquid and solid wastes together by design.
  • Played for Laughs at the end, when Mack encounters a flock of penguins that somehow got so lost they ended up in Jamaica from Antarctica. While vagrant Antarctic penguins are possible, they're only known from as far north as Australia, Chile, or New Zealand.
• Art Shift: The movie begins with a story told in traditional animation, before switching to CG style.
• Ass Kicks You: After Mack is filled up with the helium from a balloon, he flies around and crashes into the Chef's nose tail-first, breaking it.
• Attack the Injury: Pam bites the Chef on his nose, which Mack had broken earlier.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
  • Pam begins the movie exasperated with Mack's overprotectiveness, but she still shows him affection occasionally, and as the movie goes on the spark gradually comes back into their relationship, and not only do they end up dancing with each other on a couple of occasions, it even helps save their lives, as their synchronized dancing allows them to partially lift their cage so they can free the other birds.
  • Gwen is an Annoying Younger Sibling to Dax, embarrassing him in front of Kim at the beginning and end of the movie. But later, shortly before the movie's Darkest Hour where all the ducks except Dax and Gwen have been captured by the chef, Gwen insists on giving her brother a big hug to comfort him.
    • Dax does it too earlier in the movie when the Mallards are seemingly being attacked by Erin; when she corners him and Gwen, he hides her in his wings, showing that he sometimes doesn't see his little sister as a nuisance.
• Bad Boss: In his introductory scene, the Chef tastes one of his subordinates' dishes (as in, a tiny drop of the sauce), and flings it against the wall. From how his subordinates are all clearly terrified of him, it's all-but stated that this is a regular occurrence.
• Bait-and-Switch: Dax calls Gwen (who is trying to drag him away from Kim's flock) a "feathery wart" at the same time as he bumps into Kim. Kim initially acts like she thinks Dax insulted her... but quickly assures him that she's just kidding.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Pam's desire to see the world takes the family into incidents she never expected, from getting stuck in a metropolis and being pursued by a chef to a potty emergency with her child. She soon comes to regret her decision after the Chef captures her, Mack and the other ducks except Gwen and Dax in the helicopter until Mack raises her spirits.
• Big Brother Worship: Downplayed; despite constantly getting on each others' nerves, there are signs that Gwen does actually look up to Dax, with a handful of scenes showing her emulating his actions for herself.
• Big Damn Heroes: Dax and Gwen fly in to save their parents from falling to their deaths while locked in a cage.
• Big Eater: Uncle Dan will leap at anything edible.
• Big "NO!": Gwen yells this during the Darkest Hour scene when Gwen and Dax try to catch up with Mack, Pam, Uncle Dan, Delroy and the other ducks as they were all captured by the Chef in his helicopter.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Mack has these, which he shares with his voice actor.
• Big Shadow, Little Creature: Chump is introduced via a shadow cast against the wall of a tunnel, making her seem huge... until she emerges, revealing herself to be a very small pigeon.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Mack sees no point in taking the family away from their comfortable home on a risky journey to a strange land, but Pam believes they shouldn't avoid life beyond their boundaries.
• Break the Cutie: Gwen goes through this after Mack, Pam, Uncle Dan, Delroy and the other ducks are kidnapped by The Chef, fearing their fates of getting cooked and temporarily becoming a sobbing mess.
  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 AWFUUUUUUL…!!
• Brutal Honesty: Mack gets a dose of this, courtesy of none other than Pam, when the latter is trying to make amends for his insensitive remark towards a band of pigeons, led by the rough-and-tumble Chump, in Central Park.
  "Hi there, I'm Pam. I'm sharing my life with him so I'm painfully aware of all the stupid things that come out of his mouth."
• Calling the Old Man Out: Dax gives his father Mack a short one when Mack initially refuses to help Delroy because getting the key from the Chef will be dangerous: "Just because you're afraid of everything doesn't mean I have to be!"
• Casting Gag:
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, Alfonso Herrera (Mack) also voiced another bird, in this case as the Grey Heron in The Boy and the Heron, with both movies being released at December 2023.
  • In the Japanese dub, this is not the first time Masato Sakai (Mack) had voiced someone who flies, except the last time, he voiced a fighter jet pilot.
• Character Development: Mack begins the movie fearful and overprotective, but gradually becomes braver as the movie goes on, and when the usually optimistic Pam gives up when they're captured in a helicopter, this time Mack has to reassure her that being courageous will save the day. And at the very end of the movie, Mack even intentionally seeks another adventure by agreeing to help some penguins get back to the South Pole.
• Clip Its Wings: Near the climax, Dax's primary feathers get damaged by the chef. This renders him unable to fly save for some slight fluttering. Fortunately, as mentioned above, he figures out a way around this, and his feathers are shown growing back at the end of the film.
• Contrived Coincidence: The duck farm the Mallards stumble upon just happens to be frequented by the chef they encountered previously.
• Cooldown Hug: Gwen attempts to give Dax one. Dax is... less than receptive.
  Gwen: You look mad...you need a hug! (opens her wings)
  Dax: No, Gwen, I don't need a hug. (Gwen proceeds anyway, but he holds her back with his foot) No! I said no hug!
  Gwen: Don't fight it! It'll make you feel better!
  (she manages to hug him)
  Dax: Can you let go now?
  Gwen: Do you feel better?
  Dax: No.
  Gwen: (hugs him tighter) Then it hasn't kicked in yet.
• Copycat Mockery: Gwen mockingly repeats Dax when he welcomes Kim to the pond.
  Dax: Welcome to Moosehead Pond!
  Gwen: "Welcome to nya-nya-nya!"
• Cue the Sun: To light up Jamaica, and the final step in their migration.
• Darkest Hour: Late in the movie, the chef manages to capture all of the ducks except Dax and Gwen using a helicopter, and they initially can't save them because Gwen is too small and Dax's wings have been damaged. They only manage to save the day when Dax gets the idea to replace his damaged feathers with new ones.
• The Dog Bites Back: The trope literally starts like this. An incensed Pam ends up biting the Chef on the nose through her and Mack's cage, fed up with everything he's done to their family, leading to all the other birds revolting as well by pelting him with fruits and vegetables, especially Delroy who exacts revenge on his owner for trapping him away from his home for years.
  Delroy: You’ve trapped me for years…and now you’re trying to cook my friends? Enough! It is PAYBACK TIIIIIIME!
• A Dog Named "Dog": The family name of the family of mallards is, well, Mallard. Downplayed in that two of them are female and the females of this species are usually referred to as "hen" or simply "duck", rather than mallard.
• Downer Ending: The story Mack tells Dax and Gwen at the beginning of the movie initially ends with the adventurous ducklings getting killed by predators.
• Edible Ammunition: During the final showdown with the Chef, Uncle Dan spits out multiple vegetables in rapid-fire style.
• "Eureka!" Moment: After everyone else is taken by the Chef, Gwen starts crying, and blows her nose into some fallen feathers. This gives Dax the idea to stick the feathers to his ruined wings, allowing him to fly again.
  Dax: Gwen, you’re a genius!
  Gwen: (despondently) Am I?
• Everything Trying to Kill You: Mack paints the world outside the pond as being like this. Gwen initially takes this to heart, thinking Kim's flock are "psycho killers".
• Evil Chef: The Chef chases after Mack and Pam at one point in order to add them to his menu.
• Fantastic Slurs: Chump doesn’t take kindly to Mack referring to pigeons as “trashy, trashy vermin”.
• Feather Fingers: Zigzagged interestingly, despite this trope being prevalent with most animated birds. The Mallards typically use their feet, (despite webbed feet being impractical for this purpose), or bills to pick up and manipulate objects, and only use their wings for this purpose on rare occasion(Uncle Dan picking up a sandwich for example).
• Feathered Fiend: Erin the heron and her husband Harry is presented at first as Affably Evil and slightly deranged. They are implied to be about to eat the Mallards, even giving them a "bed" of an old skillet. This is subverted, however; the skillet was to protect them from a catfish in their flooded home, which almost eats Dax and Gwen until it is caught by Erin, who is shown to be really friendly, if somewhat odd.
• Flying Flightless Bird: Gwen is fully capable of flight despite being a duckling. Later in the film, the domestic ducks are shown fully capable of flying on a long distance trip to Jamaica, despite domesticated ducks mostly having their flight ability cut down to a few feet off the ground.
• Funny Background Event: When Pam strikes the Mallards with a large cloud ball, they end up with little pieces of cloud on their heads, while Uncle Dan gets one the size of an afro.
• Gale-Force Sound: When Chump first makes her presence known, she yells loud enough to create a powerful gust of wind.
• Gilligan Cut: When Gwen refuses to poop in the sky like an adult bird, her mom declares that there is no way they are going to land. Cut to the family on the ground, waiting for her to finish her business.
• Gone Horribly Right: An example that's Played for Laughs at the very end: Mack actually seeks another adventure by agreeing to help the penguins get back to the South Pole, which means another big trip for the Mallards. Pam even jokingly comments, "I've created a monster!"
• Good Parents: Pam and Mack are fully committed to nurturing their creations Dax and Gwen. They accompany them on walks, feed them, engage in lighthearted games with them, and even use a makeshift jump rope to help their daughter learn to fly.
  • Pam celebrates with Gwen when the latter wins a swimming race against her father, and Mack praises Gwen as well when she brings him a suitable leaf to help patch up their tree stump home.
  • In short, Pam and Mack spare no expense when it comes to enriching Dax and Gwen's young minds, aiding in their development, and cultivating positivity by rewarding them for their accomplishments.
• Groin Attack: The Chef gets hit in the groin by one of the vegetables shot by Uncle Dan (with help from Delroy and the other ducks) during the climax.
• Group Hug: Happens twice between the Mallards. First when Mack confirms they are officially going to Jamaica, and second when Mack and Pam are freed from their falling cage by their kids.
• Grumpy Old Man: Uncle Dan is the oldest of the family, and holds a deeply negative world view.
• Happily Married: Despite their contrasting personalities (or one could argue because of them), Pam and Mack’s devotion to each other is as clear as it is tenacious. They enjoy being together and openly show affection through gestures such as touching beaks, hugging, and snuggling. Near the beginning of the film, Pam plants a cute kiss on Mack’s cheek. They also engage in romantic dances three times during the movie, proving to be quite skilled at shaking their tail feathers in tandem too.
• Handicapped Badass: Chump is missing a foot, but is also the tough-as-nails leader of her flock.
• Helium Speech: Mack after accidentally breathing in the helium inside a balloon.
• Here We Go Again!: Just when the Mallards are about to begin the trip back home to New England in the spring, Mack finds a flock of penguins lost. Cue the family migrating further south in the closing credits to bring them home to the South Pole.
• Horrifying the Horror: In the final scene, Gwen tries to make a pet out of a crocodile she names "Toothpick". Toothpick is clearly terrified by the prospect.
• I'm Taking Him Home with Me!: The final scene shows Gwen trying to convince Pam to let her take "Toothpick" back home with them.
• Inflating Body Gag: While the Mallards are hiding from the chef, Mack is holding a duck-shaped balloon. When it springs a leak, Mack tries to stop it with his beak, leading to him inflating as he takes in the helium inside. He then deflates and flies around the room.
• Irony: While stuck on a crane, Uncle Dan admits that he doesn't like heights.
• It's Personal: When the Evil Chef catches the flock of ducks with the net from his helicopter, he grabs Pam and Mack by their necks and puts them in a separate cage, which he then locks with a carving fork and carries back to the helicopter's cockpit with him.
• Jerkass: The chef doesn't speak a word, but he's a bully to his subordinates, arrogant and dismissive towards Earl and Mae and a neglectful owner to Delroy (who he is all-but-stated to have obtained illegally).
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • Uncle Dan is a grumpy old duck, but he is genuinely fond of Gwen.
  • Chump may be hostile to the Mallards at first, but she is more than willing to help both them and Delroy. She even sees off the Mallards with a heartfelt "I love you".
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Pam and Dax are quick to question Mack's sudden turnaround regarding the migration, repeatedly asking him if they are really doing this.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: The overly cautious worrier Mack couldn't be more different than the bold, confident Dax.
• Logo Joke: Bob and Stuart play the Universal fanfare with their kazoos and ukulele respectively.
• "London, England" Syndrome: When asked for a route to Jaimaca, Chump briefly confuses it with the one in Queens before being corrected.
• Made of Iron: Chump, a comparatively diminutive pigeon missing a foot, gets run over by two buses and a motorized scooter in less than ten seconds, all Played for Laughs. She's completely ok afterwards.
• Malaproper: For the final leg of the journey, Dax is put in charge, and has Gwen run through the pre-flight checklist. She mispronounces "take-off" as "bake-off".
• Mathematician's Answer: When one scene has the Mallards wonder what Duck à l'Orange is, Chump tells them "It's you, with l'Orange on top".
• Meet Cute: At the beginning of the film, when the Mallards are introduced to a new family of ducks, Dax meets a female duck named Kim, and they hit it off, although Gwen embarrasses Dax by loudly broadcasting that Dax likes Kim. At the end of the movie, after the Mallards have reached Jamaica, Dax finally gets to dance together with Kim.
• Mister Big: Chump is the smallest pigeon in her flock, but also their unquestioned leader.
• My Beloved Smother: The film shows Mack to be a male version, being extremely overprotective of his children.
• Never Trust a Trailer:
  • The trailer focuses on the Mallards' negative traits for comedy, but in the movie itself, while the Mallards get on each other's nerves, they have more positive qualities than are displayed in the trailer: Mack eventually overcomes his overprotectiveness, Pam loves her husband very much even if she's sometimes exasperated by him, Dax is a Nice Guy who insists on helping others even at risk to himself, and Gwen insists on inviting Uncle Dan to come along on the trip and is willing to give her big brother Dax a comforting hug during the Mallards' Darkest Hour.
  • In the trailer, after Chump takes offense at Mack calling her by her name, Pam smacks Mack on the head, so it looks like she smacks him for offending Chump. In the movie, the smack happens earlier than that, when Uncle Dan apparently gets lost, and Mack suggests leaving him behind. And Pam actually comes to her husband's defense and bails him out during the scene with Chump, as Pam reassures Chump that Mack meant no offense and just says stupid things sometimes, offering a deal to split the sandwich with Chump.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Uncle Dan and Delroy succeed in knocking the Chef out by flinging a squash at him. Unfortunately, the Chef promptly falls onto the switch that opens his aircraft's hatch, causing the still-caged Mack and Pam to fall.
• No Name Given: The Evil Chef's name is never said onscreen, though since the viewpoint characters are birds, it's quite justified.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Despite Dax's occasional irritation with his family, he turns out to have this principle; he refuses to leave Delroy locked in a cage and insists on saving him, and when he realizes that the domesticated ducks are being led into a trap, he risks his own life to warn them.
• Odd Name Out: Delroy's family most have names that start with the letter "D"... except for one named Winston.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • While on their journey, Pam notices all the other birds are flying away from the direction they're heading in. Turns out they are flying away from a storm, which the Mallards have to wait out in a swamp.
  • The Chef does this the moment before Delroy and Uncle Dan shoot a squash at him.
• Photo Montage: The credits feature a number of photos (in 2D style) of the Mallards as they help the penguins return to the South Pole.
• The Oner: During their first foray into the city, the camera tracks behind the flock (Mostly Mack when they're split up) as they try to swerve around every obstacle, including briefly freefalling from a building.
• Papa Wolf: When Mack sees Dax pinned down by the Chef, he furiously leaps to defend his son.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Delroy does this before shooting a squash at the Chef to knock him out with Uncle Dan’s help.
  Delroy: Eat this.
• Potty Emergency: Halfway through the film, there is a sequence where Gwen needs to poop but is too shy to do it in the sky like adult birds.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Gwen uses a very exaggerated version to convince Uncle Dan to join the migration. She, Dax, the penguins and Mack do the same at the very end when he refuses to go to the South Pole just to bring some penguins home.
  • Dax and Gwen (and even Uncle Dan) do this to convince Mack to stay at the duck farm and have some fun.
    Mack: No, no, no, I don't think we could possibly stay here... (the others sulk) ...without having the best time of our lives!
• Puppy Love: Implied to be the case with Dax and Kim. Kim is quick to invite Dax and his family to join her flock on their migration. She hugs him when they reunite in Jamaica, and they even salsa dance together.
• Rich Bitch: The Chef is wealthy enough to own a personalised helicopter - and is an arrogant, vindictive jerkass who bullies his subordinates, is dismissive towards his suppliers (who treat him with politeness) and neglects his illegally-obtained pet macaw.
• Road Trip Plot: The plot as laid out in the trailer is that of a dad taking his family on a tropical vacation, with the twist being they are ducks. There is even an argument over one of the kids needing a bathroom break.
• Sapient Eat Sapient: Part of Mack's fear of leaving the pond is that his children will get eaten. When they meet Erin the Heron, he fears the worst, and it does indeed seem for a time like they want to eat the family. The kids do end up being eaten, but by a fish which Erin helps them fight off.
• Scare 'Em Straight: Mack tells his kids a bedtime story about how leaving the pond will get them killed (and by Pam's words, this isn't the first time).
• Shipper on Deck: Gwen is one for Dax and Kim; for example, when Kim's flock departs from the pond, Gwen tells the despondent Dax, "I'm so sorry you can't have babies with her." And when Dax and Kim reunite, she eagerly tells Kim that Dax kept saying her name in his sleep.
• Shovel Strike: While taking a break at the duck farm, Mack plays the role of a "sea dragon" - with Gwen responding by hitting him with a shovel (Uncle Dan gets in on the "fun" too).
• Shown Their Work: The female Mallards are accurately portrayed as being a mottled brown, as opposed to the green-headed males.
  • Similarly, GooGoo having a perfectly coifed hairstyle might seem like typical cartoon animal anthropomorphization, but he's actually a crested duck◊, a variety of duck known for having an extra poof of feathers on its head that looks like hair, which some owners do style in various ways.
  • When the domesticated ducks escape the farm with the Mallards, they have to land and rest after only a short time in flight, (compared to the wild Mallards), as most ducks bred for meat have either lost the ability to fly, or can only fly in short bursts.
• Sleep Cute: Gwen often invokes this.
  • When Mack wakes the family up for the migration, Gwen is shown hugging Dax's leg in her sleep.
  • When the Mallards join Erin and her husband in their bed, Gwen snuggles against Erin.
• Soft Glass: When Delroy is freed, he flies right through the glass of a skylight, and doesn't even get a scratch from it.
• The Speechless:
  • Erin's husband Harry doesn't speak at all. The best he does is groan.
  • None of the humans even speak. The closest we get is the one singing Survivor.
• Super-Persistent Predator: The Chef, considering the effort and resources he puts into reclaiming a particular flock of ducks rather than buying some more, is very much this. It's all but stated that this is due to personal revenge against the Mallards for slighting his pride.
• Swallow the Key: Mack accidentally swallows the key to Delroy's cage while trying to open it, thanks to Uncle Dan pushing him in an attempt to help.
• Talking in Your Sleep: When Dax and Kim reunite, Gwen spoils the moment by claiming to Kim that Dax kept saying her name in his sleep.
• Toothy Bird: The ducks and other birds in the film are occasionally shown with teeth.
• Uncertain Doom: The Evil Chef is last seen hanging upside down in the net from his helicopter without him having a co-pilot. Unless he somehow manages to pull himself up into the helicopter again on the rope the net is attached to, he's dead meat.
  • It's certainly possible that local authorities might take note of the helicopter floating around without moving with a guy hanging from it and move into intercept.
• Understatement: When Mack accidentally swallows the key to Delroy's cage, Uncle Dan drily notes, "Well, that's a bummer."
• Undying Loyalty: Pam to Mack, exemplified during the helicopter scene where they're trapped in the cage and being watched by the Chef. Pam grows despondent after their failed attempt to push the cage out of the cockpit. Realizing they can't escape, she loses hope, lamenting their separation from their children. She suddenly regrets the decision to leave Moosehead Pond to begin with. Mack attempts to rekindle her spirits by stating she isn't acting like herself, as she was always the brave and adventurous one. He reminds her of her true nature and strong will with this powerful statement: "You never give up on anything. You haven't even given up on me."
• Unfortunate Names: While Mack addresses a pigeon named "Chump", who gets angry (alongside her crew) whenever Mack addresses her by name.
• The World Is Just Awesome: There is a beautiful shot of the family taking off, breaking through the trees, and flying through the valley as the sun rises.
• Those Two Guys: Delroy and Uncle Dan become this near the end of the film.
• Villainy-Free Villain: Downplayed with The Chef - whilst it could be argued he is simply doing his job, he is guilty of animal neglect (keeping Delroy in a barren cage that is way too small for him) and is all-but-stated to have obtained Delroy illegally, making him party to animal trafficking. He is also a Jerkass to those around him, bullying his subordinates (who are all clearly terrified of him) for not meeting his standards, being dismissive to Earl and Mae and more or less tormenting the Mallard family when he has them in his grasp, including pinning Dax when trying to capture him.
• Villain Has a Point: Technically, when looking at it from the human perspective, the Chef did indeed pay for the ducks from the farm for use in his restaurant. Them escaping threatens his livelihood, especially after he already paid a large sum of money for them, as evidenced by the huge wad of cash he cave the farmer. However, his hunting them down (when he could easily just buy some more) is all-but stated to be a desire to assuage his wounded pride more than any pragmatic concerns.
• Was Too Hard on Him: Mack immediately has this moment after he calls Dax out for his reckless actions.
• What the Hell, Hero?: After escaping the Chef, Mack angrily calls Dax out for disobeying him, which cause him to lose some of his feathers in the process. A quick shot also shows how everyone else is shocked by the way Mack chastises Dax.
• Would Hit a Girl: Dax is quick to try and slap Gwen with his wings after she annoys him too much.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: This is what finally convinces Mack to take his family on a vacation to Jamaica: Uncle Dan tells Mack that he approves of Mack's decision to stay in the pond, and that Mack should stick to his beliefs and never change them for anybody. Dan thinks this will make Mack "happy", "healthy", and "totally alone", and therefore "living the dream". But while Mack likes the idea of being happy and healthy, he's horrified at the implication that his overprotectiveness could cost him his family, and he doesn't want to end up alone like Dan.

---