[Voice] Cast: Here's the thing about the penguins. They were never meant to star in a movie. They were side characters when the franchise began, so the producers weren't concerned with getting big names to voice those characters. That means I don't know much about Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Chistopher Knights, and Conrad Vernon other than they were the ideal choice for the roles, being the ones who originated them and played toward their growth in popularity. I have to give credit to the voice caster here. Benedict Cumberbatch was a fun get for them. Ken Jeong is becoming an obvious choice for animated roles. I was super pleased to see Annet Mahendru voicing a character (Eva) though. If she's not going to ever get credit for what she does on The Americans, she might as well get a major animated feature payday. John Malkovich as the voice of the villain was a good move too.
Plot: The penguins have to save all penguin-kind from the dastardly plan of an octopus who was shunned by people because penguins were cuter. This is a complete shift away from the Madagascar movies. I imagine the only direction and instructions while story-boarding this were "Go, go, go" because this moves at a very fast pace. There's one chase seen in particular that only works because it's never on anything for long enough to think about it, like a side-scrolling video game that keeps moving forward no matter where you are in the level. It was simply too much for me.
Animation: It looked fine, but it was clear there wasn't a great deal of investment in this. The Madagascar franchise was never one about looking fantastic. It keeps up with the animation of the day without pushing it forward at all, which is fine. This isn't a movie with high aspirations in that respect.
Elephant in the Room: Something had to make you laugh? There was one recurring joke in the movie that got me every time. All the instructions the main villain gives to his lackeys are celebrity names (ex. "Elijah, would you do this for me?"). They do this a lot and it never got old.
To Sum Things Up:
It was odd. I saw this in a matinee showing over the weekend. As I expected, the audience was mostly children, including two who were very boisterous behind me during the trailers. Once the movie started, the theater was pretty quiet for the majority of the movie. A couple jokes here and there landed, but this is a movie full of constant dumb humor. Kids should eat this up and they didn't. That makes my job a lot easier. If it can't keep the kids entertained, then I can't call it a success. Harmless but uninspired.
Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend
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