Movie Review: Penguins of Madagascar

Penguins of Madagascar
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.

DVD Review: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
Directed by: Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath & Conrad Vernon.
Written by: Eric Darnell and Noah Baumbach.
Starring: Ben Stiller (Alex), Chris Rock (Marty), David Schwimmer (Melman), Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria), Sacha Baron Cohen (Julien), Cedric the Entertainer (Maurice), Andy Richter (Mort), Tom McGrath (Skipper / First Policeman), Frances McDormand (Captain Chantel DuBois), Jessica Chastain (Gia), Bryan Cranston (Vitaly), Martin Short (Stefano), Chris Miller (Kowalski), Christopher Knights (Private), Conrad Vernon (Mason / Second Policeman), Vinnie Jones (Freddie the Dog), Steve Jones (Jonesy the Dog), Nick Fletcher (Frankie the Dog), Paz Vega (Horses).

The two best moments in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted are the only two moments in the movie that actually slows the pace down at all, and doesn’t try to give you sensory overload with a non-stop blast of color, and dialogue spewed so fast between the characters you can never quite tell what is supposed to be funny and what isn’t. The first of these moments happens right at the beginning, when Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) has a nightmare than the penguins he, and his group of friends from the Central Park Zoo still trapped in Africa, have put all their faith into will never come back and rescue them. He envisions growing old in Africa, and having an empty life. The moment is heartfelt, and may even resonate with some older members of the audience. The second moment comes late in the movie, when the animals finally arrive back in Central Park, and realizes they don’t really want to be there anymore – now that they have seen the world, the Zoo just doesn’t offer them the same rewards. You really cannot go home again.

If Madagascar 3 had more moments like that, then the movie could have been something a lot more than what it is – a diversion for kids, who will undoubtedly enjoy the non-stop barrage of action and color, but pretty tedious for the adults in the crowd. Madagascar 3 seems to want to do as much as possible as quickly as possible – so by the end of the film’s not quite 90 minute running time, after countless chase sequences and dazzling high wire circus acts, that foregoes any connection with even the slightest bit of reality, I was exhausted. The damn movie never lets up for a second.

The basic plot concerns Alex and his friends wanting to get out of Africa, and back to the Central Park Zoo. They have been waiting for months for the penguins to return from Monte Carlo with their winnings, which will get them home – so long that they decide not to wait anymore and just head there themselves. They get there, surprisingly quickly, and then almost immediately are spotted by the cruel animal control captain Chantel DuBois, who wants Alex’s head for her wall. They pull off an improbable escape, and end up on a train full of circus animals, heading to Rome and then London – where a big time American circus promoter will be in attendance, and if they do well, they’ll all be headed for America! But of course, the circus is a joke, and it’s up to Alex and his friends to give these once great circus animals their confidence back – and dodge DuBois, who will not denied her lion head, even though she clearly has no jurisdiction most of the places she goes to.

Surprisingly, the screenplay was co-written by Noah Baumbach – who normally makes his own indie movies like Greenberg, Margot at the Wedding, The Squid and the Whale or combines efforts with Wes Anderson on screenplays like The Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I can only imagine that Baumbach wrote this one for the money, because there is nothing in this movie that has his normal wit or emotional underpinnings. The dialogue in this movie is worse than the other two Madagascar movies – hardly great to begin with – and favors a lot of rapid fire jokes, than occasionally make you chuckle, but mainly inspires groans.

There is a reason why Pixar movies are more critically acclaimed than most animated films aimed at children – and that’s because Pixar (normally) spends as much perfecting the screenplay as it does with its brilliant animation – and because Pixar doesn’t treat audiences like their idiots. A movie like Madagascar 3 simply wants to be a feast for the eyes – some brightly colored crap to amuse kids for a little while. On that level, I guess, the movie succeeds. Kids obviously like the movie. But for adults looking for something for them will simply end up bored by the movie.