A typical American character arc, a lonely geese embark on a bumpy migration road accompanied by two ducklings waiting to be fed, from arrogance to humility, from selfishness to responsibility, from understanding lover to understanding caring.
Rather than saying that Dapeng is the male goose who was forced to act as the "mother" of the ducklings, it is the "mother duckie" himself who is really taken care of. Although he was the most powerful and mighty pilot, and although he was healthy, he could challenge the vicious wild cat alone, but loneliness has always been a psychological shadow that he can never erase. This shadow is like a shell, wrapping him inside and inhibiting his inner growth.
That's right, this animation tells the story of how two little ducks act as psychological mothers, warm an adult and heal an adult's wounded heart. Although they don't have strong wings, majestic thighs, or burly bodies, they have real feelings of cuddling and relying on each other, have the instinct to give love, and have something called "home" that Dapeng has never experienced before. Therefore, although they are weak and sometimes timid, their emotions are not incomplete, they are confident and powerful. It was these two little ducks that stripped away the shadow that shrouded Dapeng's heart and made him truly grow into an adult and a hero.
The most successful part of the film is that it allows Dapeng and the two ducklings to fully interact, so that their relationship can be established and fermented. This is a point that most domestic animations ignore. "Big Fish and Begonia" wants to describe the relationship between the girl and Kun, but it hardly makes them have too many stories in human form. How can this emotion be built? "The Doll's Raiders" wants to write about the toy's concern for the owner, but it has always let the toys unilaterally break through the game. How can the relationship between them and the owner come from? So at least from this point of view, the relationship between Dapeng and the two little ducks is time-guaranteed, authentic, and relatively full.
The problem with the film is that the problems faced by the protagonist are monotonous and uninteresting. A wild cat that can never get rid of, not only has no sense of richness, but also has no progressiveness. Not to mention that the old cat has two personalities and two voices that have no special meaning except for being strange. Its undead like a strong character alone makes people very disgusted.
In contrast, the part where you meet the hen and spend the night is quite new. The hen made Dapeng feel a great love across races. Although its first instinct was to escape, the seed was still planted in his heart. The description of Dapeng who dare not enter the cave because he is afraid of darkness and claustrophobia is also quite vivid, where he has become the object of "care" by the two little ducks. And when they saw the wonderful firefly scene in the cave, Dapeng also got rid of the previous fear. The unique enjoyment brought by the things that dared not challenge before the challenge, this seed was also planted in Dapeng's heart.
In fact, Dapeng will encounter different people and different challenges in the process of constantly sweeping away the shadow of inner loneliness, exclusion and escape. The film should focus on how it learns true bravery and caring little by little when it encounters different situations, rather than always pushing the plot and testing it through an inexplicable old cat.
Animation Film Critics Club inside
View more about Duck Duck Goose reviews