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IMDbPro

Penguins of Madagascar

  • 2014
  • PG
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
96K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,571
164
Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, and Chris Miller in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
Super spy teams aren't born...they're hatched. Discover the secrets of the greatest and most hilarious covert birds in the global espionage biz: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private. These elitists of the elite are joining forces with a chic undercover organization, The North Wind. Led by handsome and husky Agent Classified (we could tell you his name, but then...you know). Together, they must stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine, from destroying the world as we know it.
Play trailer2:32
64 Videos
99+ Photos
AnimationActionAdventure

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.

  • Directors
    • Eric Darnell
    • Simon J. Smith
  • Writers
    • Michael Colton
    • John Aboud
    • Brandon Sawyer
  • Stars
    • Tom McGrath
    • Chris Miller
    • Christopher Knights
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    96K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    3,571
    164
    • Directors
      • Eric Darnell
      • Simon J. Smith
    • Writers
      • Michael Colton
      • John Aboud
      • Brandon Sawyer
    • Stars
      • Tom McGrath
      • Chris Miller
      • Christopher Knights
    • 184User reviews
    • 167Critic reviews
    • 53Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 8 nominations

    Videos64

    Trailer #2
    Trailer 2:32
    Watch Trailer #2
    Trailer #1
    Trailer 2:30
    Watch Trailer #1
    Call In The Penguins
    Clip 0:16
    Watch Call In The Penguins
    Moms Event
    Clip 0:16
    Watch Moms Event
    Penguin Night
    Clip 0:16
    Watch Penguin Night
    In Their Hands
    Clip 0:16
    Watch In Their Hands
    Witty Review
    Clip 0:16
    Watch Witty Review
    Clip
    Clip 1:14
    Watch Clip
    Clip
    Clip 1:11
    Watch Clip
    Clip
    Clip 1:11
    Watch Clip
    Clip
    Clip 0:34
    Watch Clip
    Clip
    Clip 1:13
    Watch Clip

    Photos102

    Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, and Chris Miller in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, and Chris Miller in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Benedict Cumberbatch in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    John Malkovich in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Ken Jeong in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Tom McGrath in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Tom McGrath and Benedict Cumberbatch in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, and Chris Miller in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon, Christopher Knights, and Chris Miller in Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Benedict Cumberbatch at an event for Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Brooke Shields and Ken Jeong at an event for Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
    Pitbull at an event for Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tom McGrath
    Tom McGrath
    • Skipper
    • (voice)
    Chris Miller
    Chris Miller
    • Kowalski
    • (voice)
    Christopher Knights
    • Private
    • (voice)
    Conrad Vernon
    Conrad Vernon
    • Rico
    • (voice)
    John Malkovich
    John Malkovich
    • Dave
    • (voice)
    Benedict Cumberbatch
    Benedict Cumberbatch
    • Classified
    • (voice)
    Ken Jeong
    Ken Jeong
    • Short Fuse
    • (voice)
    Annet Mahendru
    Annet Mahendru
    • Eva
    • (voice)
    Peter Stormare
    Peter Stormare
    • Corporal
    • (voice)
    Andy Richter
    Andy Richter
    • Mort
    • (voice)
    Danny Jacobs
    Danny Jacobs
    • King Julien
    • (voice)
    Sean Charmatz
    • Cricket
    • (voice)
    Werner Herzog
    Werner Herzog
    • Documentary Filmmaker
    • (voice)
    Stephen Kearin
    Stephen Kearin
    • Pilot
    • (voice)
    • …
    Kelly Cooney
    • Mermaid Penguin
    • (voice)
    Susan Fitzer
    • Antarctic Penguin
    • (voice)
    Chris Sanders
    Chris Sanders
    • Antarctic Penguin
    • (voice)
    Emily Nordwind
    • Antarctic Penguin
    • (voice)
    • Directors
      • Eric Darnell
      • Simon J. Smith
    • Writers
      • Michael Colton
      • John Aboud
      • Brandon Sawyer
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      When Kowalski says "Nope, I still can't read", it's a reference to the first Madagascar (2005) where he says "Sorry skipper, I can't read" when the sign says the ship is going to Africa.
    • Goofs
      Venice has no roads for automobiles. The truck loaded with watermelons would not be in a city accessible only by boat or foot.
    • Quotes

      Dave: Charlize, they're on the ray! Helen, hunt them down! William, hurt them! Halle, bury them! Hugh! Jack! Man the battle stations! Kevin! Bake on! We're still going to need that victory cake!

    • Crazy credits
      When the film begins, a glacier calves (breaks off ice) to reveal the Dreamworks Animation logo, the logo portion then calves again to replace the boy holding the fishing pole with the four penguins standing on each others' shoulders.
    • Connections
      Featured in Film '72: Episode dated 2 December 2014 (2014)
    • Soundtracks
      The Penguins of Madagascar
      Written by Lorne Balfe

    User reviews184

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    An uneven film and could have been much better but has a lot of entertaining things
    Penguins of Madagascar may be one of Dreamworks' weakest(Prince of Egypt, How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek it's not, it's better than Bee Movie and Shark Tale though) and is nowhere near as good as the wonderful TV series, but from the reviews here I was expecting it to be a waste of time but instead(personal opinion) got a very uneven but entertaining film. It is badly let down by the story, it started off delightfully but much of it was rather tired, formulaic and over-stretched(like an extended episode from the series), especially in the third act which was draggy and clichéd at points. It also tries to incorporate a lot of story strands other than being just an origin story which is commendable but it did make the film a little over-stuffed and lacking in focus. Pacing was an issue here, Penguins of Madagascar wasn't ever dull, in fact the problem was the opposite in that everything was so frantic that there were frequent points where it felt incredibly rushed and in serious need of a slowing down. Because the humour and storytelling came by so fast, you have little time to breathe and you are likely to find that you don't catch every gag and bit of dialogue or follow the story entirely.

    The animation is very good this said, not the best there's ever been but the colours are bright and colourful, the backgrounds are detailed and smooth, the editing is tight and the characters move easily. The music score is very catchy and most of the voice acting is superb. Tom McGrath and Christopher Knights are excellent as Skipper and Private and provide the emotional heart that the film has, Peter Stormare is fun and Benedict Cumberbatch- as ever showing showing an ability to turn not so strong material to something more- brings distinguished class and witty comic timing to Classified. But it is John Malkovich who is especially good, he's brilliantly off the wall as the villain, being both hilarious and sinister, and has some of the best lines. Werner Herzog is also very entertaining as a documentary narrator sort of character. Two of the voice actors don't come off so well, Ken Jeong has very little to do and his voice doesn't really fit his character- I couldn't help being reminded of the voice he used to voice Kim-Ly in Turbo and it was jarring- and Chris Miller did sound bored and rather arrogant sounding as Kowalski.

    In terms of characters, the penguins are entertaining enough but they do fare better as scene stealing supporting characters than the lead characters in a feature film and their personalities have been far more individual before, Private is very relatable actually but Kowalski comes across as an arrogant douche which was a turn off and Rico is bland. Of the rest of the characters, the most interesting of them is Dave/Dr. Brine, part of it is to do with Malkovich's voice acting, part of it is the clever character design and part of it is the writing. The rest however are one-dimensional and lacking in individuality, if I were to be asked which characters I would remember most it would be Private and Dave/Dr. Brine, but the others not so much. The script has a lot of parts where it works wonderfully but others where it falls flat, there are some smart wordplay, witty dialogue that would make one smile and some hilarious celebrity puns that adults will love(they will go over the heads of children however) but there are some jokes that do come over as contrived and like they were recycled from somewhere else. For instance Dave's name keeps getting forgotten, a running gag that was funny that was funny the first few times but got stale for the rest of them. The action comes by thick and fast and is enormous fun to watch, the pratfalls are very silly but look good and do amuse at all(children will enjoy them), particularly fun were the chase sequence in Venice and the final showdown.

    All in all, could have been much better, Penguins of Madagascar is a very uneven film and is one of Dreamworks' weakest but it was an entertaining watch. 6/10 Bethany Cox
    helpful•14
    14
    • TheLittleSongbird
    • Dec 14, 2014

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 26, 2014 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • India
    • Official sites
      • Official site
      • Official site [Brazil]
    • Languages
      • Portuguese
      • English
      • Italian
      • Mandarin
      • Spanish
      • Armenian
    • Also known as
      • Penguins of Madagascar: The Movie
    • Production companies
      • DreamWorks Animation
      • Pacific Data Images (PDI)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $132,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $83,850,911
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $25,447,444
      • Nov 30, 2014
    • Gross worldwide
      • $373,515,621
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 32 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Atmos
      • Auro 11.1
      • Dolby Surround 7.1
      • Datasat
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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