Penguins of Madagascar movie review (2014)

The slick Skipper (voiced by series veteran Tom McGrath) is the foursome’s self-appointed leader. Kowalski (Chris Miller) is the brains of the operation and the group’s resident pessimist. Rico (Conrad Vernon), the least developed of the four, essentially swallows things and makes grunting noises, but he’s useful in a pinch. Then there’s the soft and innocent Private (Christopher Knights), the de facto little brother, whom the other three have known from the moment he hatched.

During one of their covert missions, they find themselves taken captive by Dr. Octavius Brine (Malkovich), a mad scientist who’s actually an evil, shape-shifting octopus in disguise named Dave. Seems he’s been tracking the four penguins all over the globe, resentful of the fact that they keep stealing his thunder at various zoos and aquariums. His goal is to capture as many penguins as possible from around the world and zap them with a serum that will turn them into monstrous versions of themselves and make them seem less cuddly and appealing to the masses.

(This was essentially the motivation of the dastardly El Macho in “Despicable Me 2,” by the way. He kidnapped nearly all of Gru’s minions, shot them up with high-tech jelly and turned them into an army of evil, purple minions to help him carry out his nefarious plan. I have a 5-year-old; I’ve seen this movie a lot.)

Skipper and his pals try to thwart Dave’s plan, but also on his tail (or his tentacles) is a group of legitimate animal super spies led by a wolf whose name is Classified, in a bit of who’s-on-first humor. Cumberbatch voices the character with total authority and gravitas, and to think that he has this and the voice of the fearsome dragon Smaug from the epic “Hobbit” franchise in him—as well as the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing in this week’s “The Imitation Game”—speaks to his limitless versatility.

Basically from here, it’s spies vs. spies in a series of wild action sequences, and the antics wear a bit thin after a while. “Penguins of Madagascar” seems just about right at 90 minutes, and couldn’t have run much longer. Still, if you’re running around doing your holiday shopping and looking for a brief respite, you’ll be glad you went for a ride with these flightless birds.

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