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.

Penguins of Madagascar is my best movie. It is one of the movies who makes you laugh from beginning till end. Apart from Skipper and Private,Classified and rest of the characters are really good. This is my first review to anything because of this movie ,I got bound to write a comment for this movie. I really appreciate work of all cast to put such a good movie.

Penguins of Madagascar (2014): Dir: Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith / Voices: Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Conrad Vernon, John Malkovich: Amusing followup to the popular Madagascar animations. Here the focus is on the three sharp wit penguins who are joined by a newly hatched fourth in the film's opening. These penguins are fairly interchangeable yet somehow manage to entertain viewers with their dimwitted confidence. The villain is an octopus whose first amusing gripe is that his name is Dave. Dave's back story is that the penguins stole his spotlight years ago and he is set to vanquish penguins from being adoring to people. The penguins are reluctant to accept the rescue and assistance of a group of animal spies called the North Wind Elite consisting of a wolf, polar bear, snow owl, and seal. This all climaxes with the least of thee stepping up and Dave being brought down. Dave is voiced with manic hilarity by John Malkovich whose outbursts in previous roles lend favorably to render Dave appropriately over the top. The penguins are innovative in their counter, never looking at the overbearing odds, choosing instead the naive road less likely and somehow landing on their feet. Directors Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith have fun with a script littered with great celebrity name references throughout the film. The animation is quirky and often innovative particularly in the use of the penguins black and white colour code during a break in to get at cheese dibs. This is not anything more than empty headed popcorn entertainment for kids but the title stresses reputation and these penguins live it up. Score: 8 / 10

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!!