CUTE AND CUDDLY, SURE, BUT TONS OF FUN, TOO
Clever Penguins of Madagascar a joyous romp
PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR
★★★ 1/2
Starring: Tom McGrath, John Malkovich, Benedict Cumberbatch
Directed by: Eric Darnell and Simon
J. Smith
Running time: 92 minutes Parents attending this fountain of franticness may find themselves thinking: I could have written this. They might even be right. All one would need to do is marathon-watch the entire James Bond franchise while bingeing on boxes of sugary breakfast cereal, then sharpen one’s pencil and get to work.
The result is a supremely silly, energetically entertaining enterprise from start to finish.
The film opens with a quick bit of backstory that finds young penguin pals Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller) and Rico (Conrad Vernon) rescuing an egg that hatches into the fourth mem- ber of the squad, Private (Christopher Knights). And yes, those are the dry, Teutonic tones of Werner Herzog narrating the opening scene. If your eight-year-old gets that one, better find out what other films her Grade 3 teacher is showing the class.
Actually, a passing knowledge of the Bond canon could be useful. Penguins of Madagascar borrows such items as the attack on Fort Knox and the industrial laser from Goldfinger, the submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me, a gondola chase and extreme skydiving (both from Moonraker), the rocket belt from Thunderball, Dr. No’s giant fish tank, Scaramanga’s island lair from The Man with the Golden Gun, the deep-sea suit from For Your Eyes Only and the bouncy castle that I believe George Lazenby was jumping on in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
But there’s plenty of originality as well. The penguins find themselves hunted by an evil octopus named Dr. Octavius Brine, voiced by John Malkovich. They are also helped, often against their will, by an animal collective known as the North Wind, led by a wolf voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Penguins of Madagascar is directed by Simon J. Smith and Eric Darnell, the latter of whom also co-directed, with McGrath, the three Madagascar films. This is just the latest example of sidekicks and/or villains getting their own movies. Next year sees the release of Minions, starring the jellybean-shaped helpers of Despicable Me’s main character. And 2018 will bring a sequel to Puss in Boots, itself a spinoff of the Shrek franchise. And who can forget The Tigger Movie?
Such spinoffs can be of dubious quality, but the penguins have had several years of the popular TV series (also called The Penguins of Madagascar) to hone their craft, and it shows. The movie has the pacing of a Road Runner cartoon from the ’50s, except it lasts 92 minutes instead of just seven.
The jokes are clever, and the choice of an octopus as a villain is inspired: You could be all day disarming him. He might even give birth to his own spinoff. I’m not suggesting that would be a good idea, but I wouldn’t put anything past these penguins and their human animators.