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How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 2 December 2014
This article is a review of PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR. |
“Rico, get us out of this delicious prison,” Skipper
Adorable animals as elite combat forces is the running gag/theme through this MADAGASCAR spin off. Thankfully the mawkishness that has plagued the main series is absent. Dry, verbally dextrous jokes are interspersed among the energetic action set-pieces. Runtime flashes by in a blink. What more can you ask for from a Saturday afternoon? (Perhaps a little more ambition than INCREDIBLES-lite plotting.)
Adorable animals as elite combat forces is the running gag/theme through this MADAGASCAR spin off. Thankfully the mawkishness that has plagued the main series is absent. Dry, verbally dextrous jokes are interspersed among the energetic action set-pieces. Runtime flashes by in a blink. What more can you ask for from a Saturday afternoon? (Perhaps a little more ambition than INCREDIBLES-lite plotting.)
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Wearing meta smarts immediately on its sleeves, we are given director Werner Herzog’s distinctive German tones voicing a documentarian in Antarctica; observing the titular heroes: Skipper, Rico and Kowalski, and how they rescued pre-hatched Private from leopard seal doom. A James Bond-like prologue gets the espionage genre tropes under way – the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE/BOURNE adrenaline variety, not the TINKER TAILOR bureaucratic game playing. (Venice locale shenanigans have MOONRAKER gondola homage.)
Ten years on from Private’s shell emergence has our avian A-Team travelling the world. Who hires them exactly? Not a question answered. Who trained them? Self-taught. Impressive. Fort Knox is the initial target. What will they do with all the gold? Redistribute the wealth in a subversive strike at the system? The Penguins are in fact after the last vending machine containing their treasured snacks: “Cheezy Dibbles”. That these crisps are endangered, and their almost radioactive orange dust coats the eater, indicates a carcinogen quality. Food industry mixed message suggests a shirking of moralising. Audience cogitation is not the desire it seems, except to admire the wordplay - Skipper on teammate choking, “Stop lollygagging and gagging.”
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Waiting for them at the vending machine is Dr Octavius Brine (John Malkovich enjoying himself), a bitter octopus, heading an army of octopi; his purpose is to kidnap zoo penguins in retribution for their cuteness causing the public to shun him as a prize exhibit. Managing to escape Dr Octavius’ Bond villain submarine lair, they are chased until being rescued by the North Wind – an even more elite unit – whose raise d’être is dedication to helping animals who cannot help themselves. North Wind representatives include: Agent Classified (a wolf voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), Corporal (a polar bear emitting Peter Stormare’s tones), Short Fuse (a distinctly Ken Jeong seal), and Eva the snowy owl who Kowalski has instant inter-species hots for. Braggadocio, pride and begrudging mutual admiration cause professional friction. (North-South poles rivalry is never explicitly vocalised.)
Eventual rapprochement is never in doubt. Meanwhile the runtime is dominated by stopping Brine’s plan of introducing the McGuffin (toxic Medusa Serum) to his enemies. Chase after breathless chase has the dynamism of a top-notch action flick. Boredom is never chanced.
Moxie is the penguins’ highest accolade for one another. Well done boys, you have it in spades. A franchise high.
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