In a medium where stop-motion chickens organize elaborate escape plans, computer-generated ducks have to do a lot more than relocate to amuse us. Illumination’s “Migration” — about a fussy duck dad who reluctantly reconsiders his fear of flying — is a cartoon in search of a concept, where the most daring idea is hiring the Oscar-nominated co-director of 2012’s “Ernest & Celestine” and asking him to abandon that movie’s unique watercolor style in favor of a relatively standard digital approach. At least the backgrounds are eye-catching, as a waddle of mallards crack jokes amid beautiful fall foliage.

In the opening scene, director Benjamin Renner teases what “Migration” might have looked like had Illumination honcho Chris Meledandri let him stick to his signature aesthetic, rather than bend it to the studio’s house style: Emerald-headed, overprotective Mack tells his kids, Dax (Caspar Jennings) and Gwen (Tresi Gazal), scary bedtime stories so...