PENGUINS of MADAGASCAR

2014, DreamWorks Animation

Animation

Rating: PG

Approx. 90 mins.

THE STORY:

This film fleshes out the origins and relationships of the Madagascar penguins, a quartet of action-seeking problem solvers who use their resourcefulness and confidence to fight bad guys. This brings them into conflict with the North Wind, a secret organization which works undercover to stop evil-doers. 

The two groups end up working somewhat together in their shared goal of stopping Dr. Octavius Brine (John Malkovich), an octopus-man with an axe to grind against the penguins and a potion that turns even the cutest animal into a scary mutant. 

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• flipping

VIOLENCE:

• lots of action, no gore or death
• one surprising scene in which a seal pops out of the water threateningly and unexpectedly

TEACHING POINTS:

• there's a bit of 'open your eyes to see and accept those you love for who they truly are' and the like, but really it's just unabashed fun 

THE UPSHOT:

I think I laughed more than anyone else in the theatre. Not guffaws, but snickers and titters. I found the humour clever, punny and entirely too adult for the 6 year-old in the theatre to catch at all. Luckily there's a bit of toilet-ish humour and slapstick to suit the under 20 set.

The movie would be a bit more appealing if the penguins weren't constantly on TV in 30-minute installments-- the day before seeing this in the theatre, the 6 year-old in the room watched about 3 hours of commercial riddled penguin antics. It's not exactly as if the movie is filling some void, or as if the story couldn't have been squeezed into a couple of episodes. But I still enjoyed it. Ad the 6 year-old in the theatre enjoyed it just a little less.

4/5