The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005)

Touches You

the audience applauded

Highly Overrated But Still Good

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

How do you make a lackadaisical movie and then a featurette short that is worse and only 11 minutes long? Beats me, but somehow the people in charge decided to give everybody a little XMas gift. And quite frankly I wish I could return it and get my time back.Anyway, the little penguins from the main feature are back and this time they are celebrating Christmas. They want to spread Christmas cheer and gifts with everyone, but somehow some are not getting it. So they go out and try to find a way to spread it.Yeah, I guess its cute, but it doesn't relate well with the main story. But at least it is in CGI. So overall, its weak but its only 11 minutes long. "D"

The Wallace and Grommit feature originally was prefaced with a short about how tedious the process of creating it was. The opening cities reported that the short was ruining the fun of the feature, so at the last minute, this was inserted.It was originally intended for another purpose, and a Christmas release, then shelved because it is so bad.You see, we already know a lot about what makes an animated feature appealing, and the Dreamworks formula just doesn't cut it. Oh, they make money, but the mark is set by Pixar.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

I'm not sure why this film was tagged onto the Halloween release of Wallace & Gromit but it was a nice addition for the most part. I could have done with sharper comedy but for the majority I was laughing and enjoying the antics of the penguins who were (I'm told) one of the few good things about Madagascar. The plot sees one penguin go out to buy a present, only to end up taken home as a present by an old woman while the others rally to rescue him. It is a simple affair but was apparently bewildering to some of the adults (yes, not kids) around me in the cinema. One woman without kids saw some kids asking their mum where W&G was, so she got up, had a very loud conversation with them about it, then got up to go and complain to UGC staff that the wrong film was on (stopping on the way to inform some other parents that she would sort it out). Back again she informed everyone around her that it was a short film on before the feature – a practice she apparently had never heard and couldn't see the point of (meanwhile I struggled to just stay out of it).This may have distracted me somewhat but more distracting was the fact that this film was seeped in festive cheer at the start and end – not something I really want in October thanks all the same. This produced a typically American bit of smaltz at different points and I didn't see why they had set it at Christmas instead of just giving the penguins an adventure anyway. This was a bit annoying but for the most part the funny penguins carry it and make it good fun. Amusing regardless whether or not you've seen Madagascar, this is an enjoyable short film despite the Christmas theme basically taking the edges off it somewhat.

My wife and I saw this movie with some of our grandchildren as it was tagged on Wallace and Grommit. Now I loved Wallace and Grommit but we all thought this little short was very, very funny and deserves to be released on a DVD. We would definitely buy it and so would many others I am sure of it. The grandkids loved this short and it caused them to laugh out loud many times. We also laughed out loud at Wallace and Grommit, though my wife thought that the Madagascar penguins were much funnier I would have to say I liked the penguins a little bit more then Wallace and Grommit. I would say that anyone with kids or are big kids themselves need to see these two flicks as soon as possible or regret it for a long time.