It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Comic relief in animated movies typically don't translate well to starring roles in their own movie. Most of the time, a studio typically sees profit in some of their movies and try to take the funniest characters from their movie series and try to give them their own film, mostly to unsuccessful results. The most notable example was Pixar's disastrous "Cars 2" which ended up becoming one of my least favorite animated movies of the decade so far. With that said, I did go in nervous to "Penguins of Madagascar". I really liked the Madagascar series due to it's very funny humor with some good laughs coming from the penguins. Though I really think that they are good characters, I wasn't sure a movie about them would work out well. Luckily enough, it does have some very funny moments, yet I feel at times that the film is essentially two films combined into one which results in some unbalanced elements. What exactly do I mean, you may ask? Well I'll explain why.At first, the film actually did start off very promising. The Penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private (played by four of DreamWorks own employees, Tom McGarth, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, and Conrad Vernon) decide to leave the circus behind, having being driven crazy by that Circus Afro song (which I will admit is some pretty fantastic writing) and break into Fort Knox for not gold or the governments top secrets, but Cheetos. It only gets more complex when they are kidnapped and taken to Venice where it's revealed that an octopus named Dave (John Malkovich) is planning revenge on the penguin race by turning them into horrible creatures due to him always being overlooked by the creatures in his zoos. The penguins escape leading to a thrilling chase with octopi minions only to be rescued by an elite Arctic group known as the North Wind led by a wolf known only as Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch). His agents include a seal named Short Fuse (Ken Jeong), a polar bear named Corporal (Peter Stormare) and a snow owl named Eva (Annet Mahendru). Knowing of the evil secret plan of Dave, the penguins decide to try to stop the plan in order to prevent the extermination of the penguin species.Right from that synopsis I can name by biggest problem with the movie. The plot. It's not a bad idea for a plot as I do like the idea of the penguins going up against an evil octopus as subplot in a fourth Madagascar movie, but it's a story that just doesn't seem suitable as a main plot. Most of the time I kept expecting Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman to pop up which wasn't a good sign. Speaking of which, let me explain why I think the movie was essentially two films as one. Throughout the movie I felt like the sections involving the Penguins and Dave was part of a failed TV movie and the North Wind aspects were part of a failed feature film idea and were unsuccessfully combined together. Had they had stayed separate, I feel that they would have been very successful on their own, yet put together makes them feel like a convoluted mess. With that said though, the movie is pretty funny at times which did redeem some of the movies weaker moments. As for the animation, it's decent. It's not as incredible as "How to Train Your Dragon 2" which came out the same year, though I do feel that it does stand out with some good cartoony moments. And now, let's talk about the characters. The North Wind characters are fantastic. I love how they take on a very cliched spy team which we have seen been done so many times and actually give it some life. Classified in particular was really funny mainly due to Cumberbatch's great performance. Dave also has some good moments as well and John Malkovich was really funny, though I will admit one aspect of him did drive me a little crazy. His running gag was telling his octopi minions and making some sort of actor pun out of it. Examples include, "Nicholas, cage them", "William, hurt them", "Halle, bury them" and "Elijah, would you hide the evidence". Every time he said something like that, I kept thinking to myself, "Yes, you took the actors names and made a pun out of it. Ha ha ha." It really did get on my nerves.In a whole, "Penguins of Madagascar" is not a perfect movie due to its story that feels like it should have been split in half and it's animation that's only decent at best, though it's redeem due to it's characters having some funny moments. I do feel like it's more for kids than it is for adults though I don't think it's bad at all.

As a bit of context, this movie was one I saw as in-flight entertainment on a Scandinavian Airlines flight. Since it was the only animated movie I had any interest in reviewing, I decided to watch it. I feel rather mixed about doing so, but regret isn't necessarily one of them. The story does feature some clichés, though in at least one instance they make that a joke by halting said cliché to do something else. The messages are rather commendable, though Dr. Brine had a really awkward comeuppance. Speaking of which, the humor is what you'd expect from a movie about Minion precursors, with mostly childish gags but a few jokes that indeed are worth a chuckle. It does have some nice paced scenes (and cliché but epic slow-motion), which the animation also depicts really well. The style of the animation is identical to Madagascar (probably not necessary to write that) and it works in a way that it could straightforwardly occur as a mainline Madagascar film. It does have enough tropes, such as caricaturing various gadgets in action, to make it stand out enough as a spin-off. The characters have realistic mindsets and are all tolerable at worst, though the titular penguins' idiocy was one aspect I believe could have been written better. At times, Penguins of Madagascar even seems like one of those movies where to enjoy it, you have to power your brain off, though this isn't the case for all of it. If you are a fan of Madagascar, penguins, cute things, or distractions for children, then I would recommend this to you. If you are just a usual animation buff or moviegoer, then I would advise a bit of caution before you watch it.

From the first credits to the last credit interlude which *** SPOILER ALERT *** fixes Private's problem, this was a great movie, and I'm sorry that I saw it on the telly without getting the 3D effect. That would have been great, but hey, as a Christmastime movie for the kiddies and this grandma, it worked like a charm. There are four characters from the Madagascar franchise, the ones that enlivened any scenes that they were in with non sequiturs and comic timing, and then this movie introduces four new ones, the North Wind doppelgangers. Similar in group profiles to the penguins, Classified and the rest add their own charm. Sidenote: when Skipper and the boys are seemingly stranded on a lifeboat in survival mode after a villain/hero debacle, he's depicted with stubble, whether by accidental animation or not, I don't know, but what's when I really lost it and made the kids and the cats look at me funny. From there it was a simple step to search eps of the TV show on Nicktoons, and write fic about them. This movie made me a happy camper. Added observation is that Skipper's VA, McGrath, has the tonal inflections of Archie Bunker. Fine work all around, Dreamworks. :D

I wanted to see this film because I loved Madagascar so much. When I watched it it turns out I felt too embarrassed to continue watching. It is a film for very young kids and that is it!If your young child loves boys toys and still likes watching very childish shows that can';t stand anymore, then this is the film for him/her. It doesn't own it's place to be good enough to be a family film because it just isn't a family film. It is for children who still love baby stuff and will remain that way. The Madagascar franchise tops this and the series all the way. Don't watch it unless you are brain damaged.Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private are brought into the services of the North Wind, a Canadian elite undercover inter-species task force that is dedicated to helping animals who can't help themselves. The Penguins must work with the North Wind led by Classified in order to prevent Dr. Octavius Brine from taking over the world.