Not too funny, not too clever, but energetic and colorful, the familiar heroes repeat old tricks – nothing new, just the same old penguins with a superiority complex.
The quartet of penguins familiar from the Madagascar adventures – Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private – during one of their usual break-ins, find themselves captured by a cunning adversary, the octopus Dave, hiding under the pseudonym Dr. Octavius Brine. Dave was once seriously offended by penguins, and now he is consumed by a thirst for revenge – the octopus wants to turn the fluffy black-and-white balls of feathers into hideous freaks so that people stop being touched by the penguins in zoos. The penguins of Madagascar can’t cope with a cunning enemy alone, so they have to team up with the “North Wind” team of animal super-agents, but even they can’t handle the battle with the octopus…
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viewers are deprived of the opportunity to hear the original voice actors, but one of the characters in the film was voiced by John Malkovich, who looked into animation for the first time in his long career.
Judging by the expectation ratings, viewers of animated projects are much more interested in watching new adventures of old heroes than discovering unfamiliar worlds. This is somewhat strange, because endless self-repetitions do not lead to anything good: “Ice Age” died on the slippery path of “sequelization”, “Shrek” was driven into the coffin with four aspen stakes, and the same “Madagascar” went to rest with three films. Can spin-offs of popular franchises expect a better fate? Where do such high expectations of viewers for “Penguins of Madagascar” or the “Minions” announced for next year come from? It seems that the new work of DreamWorks Animation studio was aimed at sobering up the public, and the “Penguins” coped with the task perfectly - this page can be safely turned over.
Penguins of Madagascar: A Critical Look
Before the release of “Penguins”, the “Madagascar” franchise ranks fourth in the list of the highest-grossing animated series after “Shrek”, “Ice Age” and “Toy Story”.
It is foolish to expect revelations from that set of characters who have been “plowing” the lower league for several years - the penguins have their own animated series, which, although it looks significantly simplified, performs its main functions properly: it makes children laugh, and allows adults to take a break from their energetic offspring for half an hour. What is the meaning of a full-length film for penguins is not entirely clear even to the authors - the picture is not some kind of script revelation or an unexpectedly exciting action that needs additional timing. Yes, a couple of scenes (especially the chase through the canals of Venice) look great on the big screen, but are they worth a special picture? Question…
However, this is only what lies on the surface, but the whole idea raises questions in general. For starters, penguins are not the most successful characters at all - they are the same (yes, you can learn to distinguish them, but is it necessary?), unlike Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria, they are initially devoid of brightness, they, in the end, exist outside the age audience - too smart for children, not funny enough for adults. Perhaps, if the picture had the development of the characters, some kind of their unusual transformation, the “Penguins” would not look so ideologically poor, but, alas, the screenwriters did not come up with anything special, they even abandoned the well-started flashback. What is there to talk about if the penguins have not learned anything except old tricks since 2005.
Action Over Substance
By betting on the usual model of “more action, less thought”, the authors catered to the most undemanding viewers - young children. However, this effect is not the best way to realize oneself. Stupid things like a hand from the ass or penguin mermaids are quickly forgotten, and even the name does not remain in the memory of the picture. But even children sometimes find it difficult to watch, machine-gun bursts of dialogues, the speed (speed, not depth) of which even Aaron Sorkin himself can envy, distract those who do not want to think, and knock down the rhythm of anyone who came to the cinema to rest their eyes.
At the same time, do not forget that in their style, DreamWork Animation’s works are far from masterpieces of graphics, in which you can peer into the details endlessly. In their hypersonic manner, the “Penguins” fly before their eyes, leaving neither tangible pleasure, nor instructive morality, nor a single joke that could be shared with friends after the session. A completely ordinary episode of the cloying animated series, which belongs in the Sunday morning television grid - at a time when children have already woken up, and parents want to finish watching dreams, is brought to the big screen. The penguins did everything they could for cinemas eight years ago, Skipper and the team have long been retired.