Review of Penguins of Madagascar (2014) by Moviegeeks — 31 Mar 2016

“Penguins of Madagascar” promises a reasonable share of wit the minute it opens with a voice-over by Werner Herzog, in a sendup of his documentary on Antarctica, “Encounters at the End of the World.” That film posed the question of whether penguins could exhibit insanity. In the case of this spirited animated movie, the answer is assuredly yes.

The heroes are a feathered task force of secret-agent-like penguins, led with military discipline by Skipper (the voice of Tom McGrath). Literalists who complain that penguins do not live in Madagascar should note that the title refers to the “Madagascar” movie franchise.

Although “Penguins of Madagascar” might look like a down-market spinoff — the original vocal stars, including Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith and Sacha Baron Cohen, don’t participate — the decision to focus on the series’s comic relief has resulted in the loosest and perhaps funniest film of the brand.

After a narrative setup that provides the wisp of a tether to the earlier movies, the four penguin main characters infiltrate Fort Knox — to visit a vending machine filled with discontinued cheese-puff snacks. They are soon whisked away by the genetic researcher Dr. Octavius Brine, actually a disguised, disgruntled octopus named Dave, with whom the penguins resided during a stint at the Central Park Zoo.

Dave (a sporting John Malkovich), who sometimes barks orders in the form of actors’ names (“Nicolas, cage them”; “Robin, write this down”), plans to kidnap penguins from zoos and aquariums and transform them, ridding them of their cuteness. There will be no more cheering crowds and, as the movie acknowledges in a separate gag, no more documentaries.

In their quest to thwart Dave’s plot, the penguins have competition: a squad of Arctic animals commanded by a wolf known only as Classified. That Classified’s voice belongs to the ubiquitous Benedict Cumberbatch is almost as amusing as any of the jokes.

Visually, the movie, which can be watched in pointless 3-D, has little to set it apart, although a few of the mutant-penguin designs are worthy of the “Gremlins” director, Joe Dante. Still, the lack of originality is offset by sheer silliness, including Classified and Skipper’s Abbott and Costello-style argument over whether there’s a long I in “diversion.” The word fits the movie.