Cast: [voices]
Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Conrad Vernon, John Malkovich, Benedict
Cumberbatch, Ken Jeong, Annet Mahendru, Peter Stormare
Direction: Eric Darnell, Simon J. Smith
Genre: Animation
Duration: 1 hour 32 minutes
huge dose of cuteness!
Story: Four
penguins break into Fort Knox for what they consider to be worth more
than gold - a vending machine of 'Cheezy Puffs'. Once inside, they are
kidnapped by the octopus Dave (Malkovich) who nurses an old grudge
against them. They escape but now have to foil Dave's master plan to
disfigure all creatures cute and cuddly.
Review: We
start off with the origin story of the four. While very young, Skipper
(McGrath), Kowalski (Miller) and Rico (Vernon) break away from the pack
in order to save a penguin egg. When it hatches, they adopt the baby,
who they name Private (Knights). Curious about what lies beyond their
polar surroundings, they hitch a ride on a floating iceberg and set out
to see what the world has to offer. Years later, they escape a circus
(where they are stars) and head to Fort Knox to buy packets of cheese
crisps - Private's birthday present.
While
clueless about why Dave has captured them and taken them to his
headquarters in Venice, he tells the puzzled penguins that the public's
love for them at zoos meant that he was blatantly ignored every time.
He's therefore determined to disfigure them and all the cute penguins of
the world (whom he blames for his misery) by zapping them with a
'Medusa Serum' so that people will then despise their appearance.
Somehow,
they escape Dave's lair but after his minion octopuses chase them
through Venetian streets, the penguins are saved by a mixed-species
elite force called North Wind, comprising Classified (Cumberbatch),
Short Fuse (Jeong), Eva (Mahendru) and Corporal (Stormare). The penguins
still need to stop Dave and North Wind too needs to apprehend him.
After a few hiccups, the anthropomorphic animals pool in their efforts
to bring Dave down.
The pace is brisk - frenzied, even - the
animation top-notch and the script is full of witticisms, puns ("Drew,
Barry - more power!" Or "Nicolas, Cage - the penguins!") and there are
jokes aplenty for the kiddies as well as belly-busters for the
grown-ups. And of course, the penguins are simply adorable.
0 comments:
Post a Comment