Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Arianna Moses 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.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

EBJ Overall: A pretty disappointing movie and could have been better.Good: Splendid animation and voice acting. Very heart warming tale. Some fun and interesting characters. It made me smile, not laugh, numerous times. Score was good and a fun super weapon. Good for kids but not for fans of the original movies.Bad: Pretty boring plot which could be perfect for youngsters. They should have been more creative with the various technologies. A few minor plot holes. The Wind are pretty bong except for the polar bear.Best Part: The Celebrity names Dave gives to his minions5/10

MartinHafer Back when Dreamworks came out with SHREK, the studio was truly the equal to Pixar. Yet, sadly, over the years, Dreamworks has continued to make CGI films of diminishing quality...with a few exceptions, such as their brilliant HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Otherwise, it's been a long succession of films where mediocrity seems just fine with the studio...with films like MONSTERS VERSUS ALIENS, MADAGASCAR, THE BEE MOVIE and KUNG FU PANDA...pleasant but nothing more. And, sadly, it's also become the studio of sequels...and this one is a sequel to a TV show to a sequel...which has "direct to DVD and Neflix" written all over it! If I sound not particularly impressed by much of their work it's because that pretty much sums it up.So what you have with THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR is mediocre CGI compared to the competition, characters aimed strictly to the kids and a plot that seems like it was written by some folks who were under the influence! It's watchable but nothing more.Sadly, the film really starts off well...and it got my hopes up that it would be a cute little film. I loved having Werner Herzog doing the voice of the nature documentarian since Herzog has made a ton of wonderful documentaries. And, this initial portion, though funny, had nothing to do with the rest of the film...nothing!As to the actual story, it's just bizarro and kind of stupid...and if you haven't seen the film and are reading this part of my review, you'll think I am making this up because it makes no sense and seems to very random. The penguins break into Ft. Knox to get to a snack machine. But the snack machine is a trap and there's an evil octopus inside who somehow knows that the penguins are coming...and he wants to trap them in his bizarro plan of revenge. Dave the Octopus apparently hates these penguins because they got more love and attention when they all lived at the zoo. So, he disguised himself as a human, became a top genetic scientist and now is bent on destruction!! And, it only gets weirder from here....with even more villains, a trip back to Madagascar in a packing crate, mermaid penguins and more...none of which make sense...especially for penguins. There's much more...with some plot involving world travel and some other animals...but I really stopped paying close attention by this point. Who writes this sort of nonsense?! And, more importantly, do they get PAID to do this?!?! So much of the film just seems completely random...like they took plot ideas out of a hat and strung them all together.I really think the other reviewers are way too kind to this film. It has a current rating about 6.0...and I have no idea why. Perhaps they are judging strictly by how much kids enjoy the film--and that is fair. But even for a kids film, I think you could easily do better. Even one of the lesser Dreamworks films like MONSTERS VERSUS ALIENS or MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN are a lot better than this bizarro film. Plus for adults, this film is insufferably boring and senseless.FYI--When I watched this with my daughter, she fell asleep in the middle of it.

Gavin Cresswell (gavin-thelordofthefu-48-460297) In 2005, DreamWorks Animation released Madagascar, a film about four zoo animals who get caught by the police and get sent into crates. Then, they escaped from the ship and ended up in Madagascar where they meet three lemurs named Mort, Maurice, and King Julien, thus starting their very first adventure. It became a success at the box office and spawned two sequels. Then, in 2014, two years after Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, DreamWorks Animation released "Penguins of Madagascar", a cinematic spin-off to the television show that stars our favorite characters of the franchise, "The Penguins of Madagascar.The story takes place in Antarctica where three penguins named Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, who find an egg and when it hatches, another penguin arrives and they named him Private. Several years later, it takes place after Madagascar 3 where the penguins go off on a mission where they bump into an octopus named Dave (John Malkovich), one of the aquatic animals in the Zoo who is unloved by everyone and wants revenge on the four penguins. Then, after escaping, they meet up with the North Wind Elite led by Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch) who team up to save the world from Dave before it's too late.When the film came out in theaters, it underperformed at the box office due to tough competition against The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, although it did much better in the other countries. But honestly, I think that this is very underrated. OK, it's not awesome, but I really enjoyed this spin-off.However, there are two things that bugged me. First, there's the humor. Don't get me wrong. Some of it's very witty and got a few chuckles out of me including the scene where Skipper eats a few cheese puffs while Classified explains what the North Wind is and he gets interrupted every time, but on the other hand, some of it's a little bit silly. I'm not going to spoil some of it and I'm not going to spoil the ending to those who haven't seen it. I just thought there could have been some improvement in the humor.Also, there's the story and let's say it's a mixed bag. The relationship between Skipper and Private is the heart of the film and it works really well, but on the other hand it's a bit formulaic on some parts, but to be fair, it does give some energy and for the most part, it usually works to it's advantage.That's it for the problems. Now to the good stuff. The characters are likable especially the Penguins who continue to steal the show each time they're on screen. Classified is a decent enough character who gives a few witty lines and such and Benedict Cumberbatch's voice work is really entertaining while John Malkovich does a superb job giving a funny, but creepy personality to Dave. The animation is gorgeous and it fits well with the action sequences, which is another highlight of the film. The pacing, while a bit wild and crazy, is very brisk and the music score from Lorne Balfe satisfies with a score that resembles spy action music, but also gives some comedic stuff as well and mixes them perfectly.Seriously, I would've loved to see more adventures of the Penguins had it done so well at the box office. But as a stand-alone spin-off it's energetic and very entertaining. It may not be as excellent as say the sequels to How To Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 2, but I'm glad I had to see it in theaters a year ago during Christmas break. Give this a shot and you won't be disappointed.

deventhakkar Actually, this film was quite interesting, adventurous and fun! The movie contains the same Thea of suspense, action, adventure and laughable comedy from the previous Madagascar films as well as the TV series of the same name. Stop hating these four adorable little guys and be positive! To me, I was really waiting for a movie solemnly focusing on the four penguins and this film does a successful job bringing their charm and wit to the big screen in 92-4 minutes rather than 25-30 minutes. This is also a very good animation effort! Well done Tom, Chris, Conrad and Christopher! I also wanted to know more about the history of these lovable four spy birds and exactly how they came to New York City and had been living in Central Park Zoo, forming the Nickelodeon TV series ever since. This film is a story of friendship, finding family, teamwork, action and adventure, betrayal and all coated with cartoon comedy! Well done Eric and Simon!!