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Review

A star rating of 3 out of 5.

There's a distinct air of Top Cat and Bilko about those scene-stealing penguins from the family-minded Madagascar franchise and, here, they deservedly get their own spin-off movie. They're recruited as spies to thwart the world-takeover plans of arch-baddie octopus Dave - a role that stretches John Malkovich's vocal chords more than his acting muscles - while Benedict Cumberbatch voices the goodie group's wolfish boss. Spin-offs can suffer when wrenched away from their parent movies, because what's fun in small doses doesn't necessarily work well in large ones. In this case, writer/director Eric Darnell (graduating from the Madagascar series) and co-director Simon J Smith struggle at times with a generic plot, contrived gags and a tendency to assume frantic is fun. But the penguins (voiced by their animators) are kiddie-friendly cute and there are enough mirthful moments - many splendidly surreal - to make this a trip worth taking.

How to watch

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Credits

Cast

rolename
SkipperTom McGrath
KowalskiChris Miller
PrivateChristopher Knights
RicoConrad Vernon
DaveJohn Malkovich
ClassifiedBenedict Cumberbatch
Short FuseKen Jeong
EvaAnnet Mahendru
CorporalPeter Stormare
Documentary film-makerWerner Herzog

Crew

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DirectorEric Darnell
DirectorSimon J Smith

Details

Theatrical distributor
20th Century Fox
Released on
2014-12-05
Languages
English | Armenian | Russian | Italian | Spanish
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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