Duck Duck – Duck Duck Goose (2018)

Directed by: Christopher Jenkins | 91 minutes | animation, family | Dutch voice cast: Daan van Rijssel, Johnny Kraaijkamp Jr., Patrick Martens, Liza Sips, Kim-Lian van der Meij, Niels Vogel, Juliann Ubbergen, Hero Muller, Dennis Willekens

Animation films are booming business. More cartoons than ever are appearing in cinemas, and many of those films are also attracting large audiences. But with undisputed high-flyers like Disney/Pixar (including the ‘Toy Story’ series), Illumination (the ‘Despicable Me’ franchise), DreamWorks (‘How to Train Your Dragon’), Sony Pictures Animation (‘Hotel Transylvania’ ) and Laika (among others ‘Coraline’ (2009) and ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ (2016) it is no easy task for a smaller studio to squeeze in. And then we leave the non-American animation studios (including the British Aardman and the Japanese Studio Ghibli) are not taken into account. Smaller production houses from Europe, Asia and the rest of the world are diligently trying to get a foot in the door with all that American violence and every now and then they succeed. Original Force is a small Chinese animation studio that is taking its first steps in animation land with ‘Duck Duck’ (or ‘Duck Duck Goose’, 2018). The experienced film viewer will notice that this is the umpteenth cartoon in which birds play the leading role, after ‘Storks’ (2016), ‘ Rikkie the stork’ (2017), ‘Pluisje: Dare to fly egen’ (2018) and ‘Manou op de seagull school’ (2019). Originality is hard to find in this Christopher Jenkins-directed film.

Jenkins learned the trade at Disney and worked as a visual effects animator on ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1989), ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (1991), ‘Aladdin’ (1992) and ‘The Lion King’ (1994) among others. . He later played an important role in the creation and development of ‘Surf’s Up’ (2007). ‘Duck Duck’ is his directorial debut. This film is all about Ben, an extroverted goose who sees life as one big competition. While the other geese prepare for the annual migration south, he prefers to do acrobatic tricks in the air. In one of the tricks he plays, he ends up in the middle of a group of ducklings. Two pulls become separated from the rest. These Mo and Vie don’t know how to get back to the others and ask Ben to help them. It will come as no surprise to anyone that the egocentric Ben initially does not listen to this at all. But when he accidentally injures his wing in one of his stunts, he has no choice but to take care of the little ducks. They make their way through the landscape, encountering one obstacle after another. The life of a little duckling is quite precarious. When the cunning cat Banzou, who has a split personality and sees the pullets as defenseless but irresistible morsels, crosses their path, things get really dangerous.

Of course, during his journey Ben learns how important family is and how nice it is that he can be there for the little ducks. Because ‘Duck Duck’ follows the paved paths of predictability. Just like ‘Manou op de seagull school’, much attention has been paid to the landscapes here; they sometimes look astonishingly beautiful. The animal figures are animated slightly less caricatured than in ‘Manou’, but certainly not truthfully. Not that that’s a requirement per se – the use of fantasy should be encouraged – but it could have given the film just that little bit of extra cachet. Now ‘Duck Duck’ has to rely on the story, and as said, that is a clichéd story in which common themes such as friendship and family, maturing and gaining self-awareness are addressed. Opposites who get along better than they thought before; we’ve seen that before too. The voice work is reasonably good, but unfortunately does not manage to lift the whole to a higher level. And so, across the board, “Duck Duck” is an exercise in mediocrity. Only the background visuals score above average, although animation enthusiasts have actually just gotten used to this level.