Directed by: Eric Darnell & Simon J. Smith.
Written by: John Aboud and Michael Colton and Brandon Sawyer and Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons based on characters created by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath.
Starring: Tom McGrath (Skipper), Chris Miller (Kowalski), Christopher Knights (Private), Conrad Vernon (Rico), John Malkovich (Dave), Benedict Cumberbatch (Classified), Ken Jeong (Short Fuse), Annet Mahendru (Eva), Peter Stormare (Corporal), Werner Herzog (Documentary Filmmaker).
I
had low expectations for Penguins of Madagascar heading into the movie – I was
really only going because my 3-year olds favorite animals are penguins – but
the first few scenes in the movie had me thinking that perhaps the movie
wouldn’t be so bad after all. The film opens with narration of a documentarian
filming the penguins – and the filmmakers picked the perfect the person to
provide that narration – Werner Herzog. His narration gave me more laughs than
the rest of the movie combined, and I was sorry he was only in the first few
moments of the films. The film then flashes forward to the end of Madagascar 3
– and again made me laugh, as our four penguin heroes express the same feeling
I had about that film – namely get us the hell out of here. Unfortunately, from
there the movie settles more into the same type of thing as the other
Madagascar films – lots of fast moving action, blinding colors, low humor, etc.
It’s still probably my favorite of the now four films in the Madagascar films –
but that doesn’t mean that it’s very good.
The
Penguins have always been people’s favorite supporting characters in the films
– and they are better characters than the four main characters in those films, which
have always been somewhat annoying to me. But as with other popular supporting
characters in animated films – from Scrat in Ice Age to Puss in Boots from
Shrek – supporting characters are probably where they should stay. A little of
them go a long way.
This
movie puts the four penguins – the leader, Skipper, the thinker, Kowalski, the
muscle Rico and the cute but dim private – into a complicated action movie.
Dave (voiced, brilliantly, by John Malkovich) is an octopus, with a grudge
against penguin-kind – he has been jettisoned from every zoo because everyone
wants to see the adorable penguins, and not a gross octopus. This all started
with these four – and he is out for vengeance against them, and then all
penguins. The four try and stop them – but also have to deal with North Wind –
a secret organization out to protect animals who cannot protect themselves. But
while North Wind may have all the technology they need – they aren’t as smart
as the Penguins.
The
movie moves very fast – and it is fairly entertaining. There is a running joke
– a stupid one admittedly – that made me laugh every time, as Dave unwittingly
says celebrity names as he is giving his minions orders. I have a hard time
believing that kids aren’t going to enjoy the film – it certainly held my
daughters attention throughout, who quite enjoyed it. And it’s not a painful
experience, as some kids movies are, for the parents. But it never really gets
to the point where the comedy is sustained – where older viewers can truly just
let go and enjoy the insanity on screen. Its decent – it’s well done and mildly
amusing – and a step up from the other movies in the series. It’s still not a
very good movie, but it’s not that bad either.
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