Penguins of Madagascar

Tom McGrath Director: Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith,

Overview

The penguins from Madagascar get their own film in this DreamWorks Animation production. When a villainous octopus named Dave (voice of John Malkovich) hatches a plan to eliminate the penguins, Skipper (voice of Tom McGrath), Kowalski (voice of Chris Miller), Rico (John DiMaggio) and Private (Christopher Knights) must team with a clandestine animal organization known as North Wind to thwart the diabolical plan.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/05/2018
UPC:	0191329061008
Original Release:	2014
Rating:	PG
Source:	Dreamworks Animated
Time:	1:32:00
Sales rank:	2,759

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tom McGrath	Skipper
Chris Miller	Kowalski
Christopher Knights	Private
John Malkovich	Dr. Octavius Brine
Benedict Cumberbatch	Agent Classified
Ken Jeong	Short Fuse
Annet Mahendru	Eva
Peter Stormare	Corporal
Danny Jacobs	King Julien
Andy Richter	Mort
Conrad Vernon	Rico
Sean Charmatz	Cricket
Werner Herzog	Documentary Filmmaker
Stephen Kearin	Pilot / Aquarium Employee
Kelly Cooney	Mermain Penguin
Susan Fitzer	Antarctic Penguin
Chris Sanders	Antarctic Penguin
Emily Nordwind	Antarctic Penguin
Mike Mitchell	Antarctic Penguin
Hope Levy	Antarctic Penguin,Woman at Aquarium
Walt Dohrn	Antarctic Penguin
Jim Pirri	Gondolier
Elizabeth Pan	Shanghai TV Reporter
Jeff Fischer	Security System Voice
Steve Apostolina	Penguin Prisoner
Al Rodrigo	Penguin Fan
Steve Alterman	Aquarium Announcer
Ava Acres	Girl at Zoo
Cullen McCarthy	Boy at Zoo
Nicholas Guest	Flight Attendant

Technical Credits

John Aboud

Michael Colton

Brandon Sawyer

Alan Schoolcraft

Brent Simons

Eric Darnell	Director,Executive Producer
Simon J. Smith	Director
John Aboud	Original Story,Screenwriter
Ketan Adhikari	Animator
Tanseer Ahmed	Animator
Balaji Anbalagan	Animator
Kevin Andrus	Animator
Anand Baid	Animator
Lorne Balfe	Score Composer
Lara Breay	Producer
Virendra Chauhan	Production Manager
Michael Colton	Original Story,Screenwriter
Jennifer Dahlman	Associate Producer
Damien deFroberville	Associate Producer
Leslee Feldman	Casting
Rachel Faith Hanson	Animator
Christi Soper Hilt	Casting
Tripp Hudson	Co-producer,Producer
Shannon Jeffries	Production Designer
Shajo John	Animator
Nick Kenway	Editor
Christopher Knights	Score Composer
Dinesh Krishnan-Nair	Production Manager
Manish Kumar	Animator
George M. Kurian	Animator
Christopher Leahy	Associate Producer
Tom McGrath	Score Composer,Executive Producer
Siddhant Mehta	Animator
Chris Miller	Score Composer
Prasanjib Nag	Animator
Paul N.J. Ottosson	Sound/Sound Designer
Ruben Perez	Art Director
Harinarayan Rajeev	Animator
K. Rajesh	Animator
S. Karunakar Reddy	Animator
Brandon Sawyer	Original Story,Screenwriter
Alan Schoolcraft	Original Story,Screenwriter
Divyesh Jagdish Shah	Animator
Kevan Shorey	Animator
Brent Simons	Original Story,Screenwriter
Mireille Soria	Executive Producer
Michelle Jurado Staphylas	Production Manager
Mark Swift	Producer
Mark Swift	Producer
Gautam Thakur	Animator
Conrad Vernon	Score Composer

Editorial Reviews

Family-friendly animated films are a genre quick to take advantage of marketing tie-ins, and most of the successful modern cartoon franchises have whipped up adorable secondary characters that get plastered all over posters, lunchboxes, and websites. Universal has made Despicable Me's minions a cornerstone of their marketing, the Ice Age series gave us the acorn-chasing Scrat, and Dreamworks spawned Madagascar's penguins, four adorable birds so popular they had their own television series, and now, a movie with the obvious title of The Penguins of Madagascar. The plot, which involves a shape-shifting octopus named Dave (voice of John Malkovich) seeking revenge on the penguins because their cuteness made him an outcast at the zoo, is nothing more than an excuse on which to hang a series of comic action sequences. Along the way, our heroes get help from the North Wind, another four-animal team led by a wolf named Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose competency clashes with the fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants leadership approach taken by penguin Skipper (Tom McGrath). McGrath, who voiced the character in all of the Madagascar movies (which he also co-directed), understands that the fearless 1940s drill-sergeant voice that gives Skipper his speaking rhythms and gung-ho attitude is inherently amusing and is central to the film's sense of humor. Skipper's ceaseless unflappability, even in the face of his own ineptitude, is a simple but solid comedic construct, and it results in some pleasantly silly exchanges with Cumberbatch. Visually, The Penguins of Madagascar has a workmanlike vibe. There's little interest in capturing the spirit of the various cities around the world our heroes travel to, although directors Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith deliver inspired gags on a regular basis, and that's really the point. The script dresses up this series of jokes with a supposed lesson that what you do is more important than how you look, but kids won't care about that when the silliness level goes into the red during the movie's opening sequence, a brief origin story featuring a fantastic cameo from Werner Herzog. That opening is so strong that the rest of the picture never quite measures up to it, but the filmmakers are eager to please throughout. The jokes come fast and furious, but they never seem desperate or lazy, even when they aren't particularly funny. The result is a movie that will divert little ones while not annoying their parents. It could be better, but as far as obvious attempts to make more money go, it's devoid of crassness and laziness.

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert