Penguins of Madagascar

Released:  November 26^th, 2014

Rated:  PG

Studio:  20^th Century Fox

Starring:  Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Malkovich

Directed by:  Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith

Written by:  John Aboud, Michael Colton, Brandon Sawyer

Personal Bias Alert:  Only seen the first Madagascar movie, I hate I Like to Move It too

6.8 of 10

            I wasn’t looking forward to seeing this film.  My options weren’t great this weekend, perhaps because the studios were acquiescing to Mockingjay’s inevitable dominance.  Still, I gave it my best effort.  I tried to get into a lighthearted, goofy mood on the drive to the theater but was mostly feeling sheepish about my impending purchase of one ticket to a kid’s movie.  Then, without warning, I was gifted exactly what I needed.  Walking into the theater in front of me was a family of five, the mother leading the way with her bright pink hair, reassuring the two youngest that they would get plenty of popcorn.  Behind them was the father and the preteen daughter, who was on the cusp of being bored by such family outings.  At one point, the father reached out and gave his daughter’s shoulder a little squeeze.  It was clear that this was the waning portion of the family’s innocent cohesiveness.  Time was slipping away, and the idea of them looking back years later and connecting Penguins of Madagascar with that lovely feeling of togetherness was an excellent way for me to get into the correct headspace.

            You weren’t expecting a lamentation on the fleeting nature of family when you clicked on a review for Penguins of Madagascar, were you?  So let’s move on to the questions at hand.  Was Penguins of Madagascar good?  Did I laugh?  Will it work for the whole family?  Moderately, yes, and yes would be my answers, but please don’t stop reading just yet.

            This is another entry in the long line of sidekicks-getting-their-own-movie trend.  I get it, their big personalities steal scenes and it’s an easy way to extend a franchise, but more often than not these characters don’t have enough going on in their own lives to warrant a movie and twenty minutes in you come to better understand the meaning of ‘less is more.’  Luckily, the penguin’s identity as inept but confident adventurers gives them a decent excuse for their own storyline, especially when a disgruntled octopus comes after them for being so darn cute.

            The plot is pretty light, and it never made me care about what the penguins were up to.  That being said, the plot’s not really the point.  It’s there as a through-line for the madcap escapades and silly jokes this movie really wants to focus on, and those worked pretty well.  The beginning scene, which explains how young Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico simultaneously picked up Private and left Antarctica, is probably Penguins at its best.  The penguins are extra cute, the action sequence is entertaining, and it’s littered with jokes and references aimed at different portions of the audience.  There’s slapstick and dumb characters for the kids, wordplay for the adults, and an extended joke about Werner Herzog following them for a documentary that’s pretty much aimed directly at me.  There’s even a revolutionary war joke that had me chuckling.  The jokes come fast and furious in Penguins, scattering them like birdshot at the audience in such a way that you’re rarely laughing all at once, but you never have to wait long for one that tickles your fancy.

            As much as I was into the film’s humor, I wasn’t as enamored with its too frequent action sequences.  I get that this is a thing for the penguins, but their quality isn’t very consistent.  Some were great fun, like a chase scene through the canals and streets of Venice, but others drag and repeat themselves.  The sequences involving the professional team known as North Wind get particularly repetitive as their overconfidence and inability to complete a mission makes you wonder why they’re involved at all.

            The addition of North Wind and the octopus villain does allow for big name stars like Benedict Cumberbatch and John Malkovich (as the villain, obviously) to join the cast.  They and the returning cast deliver adequate voiceover work, but it’s the animators that really bring their characters to life.  I couldn’t remember the penguins from the previous movies, but it only took me a few minutes before I could distinguish each black and white puffball by sight.

            I think I would have liked Penguins of Madagascar much more if the plot had been more substantial.  As is, it feels like yet another funny but disposable product from DreamWorks Animation.  It’s not great, but at least I laughed.

            Other Notes:

Ø  “I reject nature!”

Ø  This is a rare movie that finished ahead of schedule.  As a result, its release date was pushed up from March 2015.

Ø  None of the kids at my theater ever got restless.  That’s a winning endorsement for a kid’s movie in my book.