Migration appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. No issues materialized here.
Sharpness satisfied. As expected from an animated flick, the image showed nice clarity.
I noticed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge enhancement appeared to be absent. No source flaws came with the transfer, as the movie lacked any form of defects.
Colors went with a somewhat subdued pastel feel much of the time to match the autumnal settings, though matters followed more of a bold path in the stark NYC scenes. Within those parameters, the hues looked positive, so the various tones came across as clear and well-developed.
Blacks also seemed dark and firm, while low-light shots offered good delineation. Across the board, this became a satisfying image.
As for the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack, it opened up the film in a satisfying manner. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the mix didn’t give us wall-to-wall theatrics, but it managed to use the spectrum well.
As expected, the film’s action sequences boasted nice breadth and activity, and the street and city elements created a fine sense of involvement. While the soundscape didn’t stun us on a frequent basis, it provided more than enough to succeed.
Audio quality seemed consistently solid. Speech appeared natural and distinctive, and no edginess or other issues marred the dialogue.
Music sounded warm and full, while effects showed good clarity and accuracy. When necessary, bass response came across as deep and tight. All of this lifted the track to “B+” status.
As we move to extras, the disc comes with three mini-movies. We get Fly Hard (4:00), Mooned (8:40) and Midnight Mission (4:52).
Hard offers a new adventure with the Migration characters that focuses on Chump. It provides a fairly rollicking little adventure that doesn’t wear out its welcome.
Mooned ran prior to theatrical screenings of Migration and brings back Vector - the primary villain from the first Despicable Me - to face off against the Minions. Close in tone to Looney Tunes, it brings some amusement.
Finally, Midnight features the Minions as they attempt to figure out how to eliminate nighttime darkness for scared young Agnes. That sentimental premise aside, the short mainly focuses on Minion slapstick and it becomes reasonably entertaining.
A mix of featurettes ensue, and Microphone Madness runs three minutes, 11 seconds. It shows clips of the actors at work and provides some value in that domain, even if it focuses more on bloopers than anything else.
Split into seven segments, Meet the Cast occupies a total of 15 minutes, 37 seconds. Across these clips, we hear from director Benjamin Renner, editor Christian Gazal, character animator Audrey Fobis, composer John Powell, and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri.
As expected, “Meet” looks at cast, characters and performances. A few minor insights emerge but we mostly find praise for the actors.
Taking Flight goes for five minutes, 29 seconds. It involves Meledandri, Renner, Gazal, Fobis, co-director Guylo Homsy, compositing supervisor Celine Allegre, computer graphics supervisor Francois Boudaille, production designer Colin Stimpson, supervising animator Fabrice Senia, lighting supervisor Thierry Noblet, animation director Gwenole Oulc’hen, and layout cinematography supervisor Damien Bapst.
“Flight” covers art and animation. It remains a bit on the fluffy side but it comes with a decent layer of information.
Next comes The Art of Flight. It lasts one minute, 58 seconds and features a non-narrated look at various stages of animation to become a brisk but moderately engaging reel.
The Sound of Flight occupies two minutes, 57 seconds. Here we get info from Powell.
We look at the film’s score, though surprisingly, we get nothing about audio design despite the title. Anyway, Powell offers a few useful notes.
A tutorial called How to Draw breaks into four segments. These cover the characters Mack (2:47), Delroy (3:08), Chump (2:38) and Gwen (1:58).
Across these, Renner provides quick details on how to sketch those roles. In addition to the technical specifics, he gives some insights about how personalities influence design. These elements make Renner’s reels more interesting than anticipated.
Another lesson comes with Build Your Own Pop-Up Book (11:07). As implied, this teaches kids how to create their own tome at home. It seems cute and might become a fun activity for the family.
Split into three segments, Calling All Birds fills a total of five minutes, 34 seconds. An additional activity for kids, it educates viewers how to emulate “the Mack Quack” (2:38), “the Heron Honk” (1:30) and “the Chump Chirp” (1:26). Expect another cute feature for kids.
The disc ends with Best Nests, one more tutorial. It covers “Nests” (3:49) and “Water Feeder” (1:55) as it teaches kids how to make bird locations. Like its predecessors, it feels interesting for that audience.
If you seek mediocre animated fare, Migration fits the bill. While the film provides a perfectly watchable affair, it never gives us anything especially creative or memorable. The Blu-ray brings solid visuals and audio but supplements seem superficial most of the time. We get a fairly solid release for a fairly forgettable film.
