Duck Duck Goose

A goose, who flies against the normal behaviour of geese, alters his outlook on life when he’s forced to take a walking trip with two little ducks.

Peng, Jim Gaffigan (“Hotel Transylvania 3“, “The Bleeder”), is a goose who likes to have things his own way. He also thinks he’s the best at most everything and knows everything, or at least, questions everything.

When, in a freak accident, he injures his wing and is unable to migrate with the rest of the flock, he decides to take two little ducks, who he managed to separate from their walking party earlier, for insurance purposes, in case of nasty things along the way.

Chi, Zendaya (“Spider-Man Homecoming“, “The Greatest Showman”), and Chao, Lance Lim (“Independence Day: Resurrection”, “Innocent Blood”), are the two ducklings and, despite being just 16 days old, Chi is clever and witty for her age, whilst Chao is a little bumbling buffoon.

Together, these three oddballs are chased cross-country by Banzou, Greg Proops (“Star Wars: Episode I”, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”), a split-personality cat, hungry for some duck, duck goose.

They take this journey whereby they meet a variety of people, including Carl, Reggie Watts (“The Late Late Show With James Corden”, “On My Way (Short)”), the flying squirrel, and, of course, Peng will mend more than his wing along the way.

You’ll have seen Duck Duck Goose a million times before, particularly in this children’s animation guise. A person/animal/alien who is self-centred, egotistical and all that, takes a journey that sees them change their ways and become a better person than when they started.

That’s exactly what Duck Duck Goose is all about, only, it doesn’t do it particularly well. The laughs are a tad thin on the ground, the voices don’t quite line-up in the way we see from, say, Aardman or Pixar, and the story brings nothing new to the genre.

The animation looks nice enough though, and when Carl finally arrives on the scene the jokes take a small step up from fart and slapstick humour, though he’s not in it for long.

Christopher Jenkins (“Surf’s Up”) is the director and co-writer along with their very own flock of: Rob Muir (“Love Boat”, “The Jungle Book”), Scott Atkinson and Tegan West (“The Cave”), which is an odd combination by anyone’s standards.

Duck Duck Goose is what it is, descriptive I know. Young kids will like the cutesy animals and plain and simple humour, adults will wish they could fall asleep and wake up as the credits begin.