ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Cissy Évelyne It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Prismark10 This was the first short spin off of the Penguins of Madagascar. The main characters just turn up at the end.It is an agreeable short which kids will like especially with the Sgt Bilko riff mixed with Tony Curtis's impression of Cary Grant in Some like it Hot.On Christmas Eve the youngest penguin, Private is sad that the polar bear at the zoo is all alone while the rest seem to be happy the night before Christmas.The rest of the penguins realise that Private has wandered off to find the polar bear a present and before long an elderly lady has taken him to her New York apartment and it is up to the rest to rescue him especially as she has a vicious poodle after him.It is decent enough animation for a short with some inventive moments and some fast moving action.

Michael_Elliott The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005) *** (out of 4)Charming ten-minute short has Private sneaking out of the Zoo so that he can find a Christmas gift for a lonely polar bear. While walking around the streets he ends up getting kidnapped by a mean old lady and soon three other penguins must try and rescue him. Even if you haven't seen MADAGASCAR it's likely you'll still enjoy this short, which has plenty of fast action, a nice pace and some pretty big laughs. I thought the entire story was a fairly strong one that managed to mix in laughs with the Christmas spirit, which is obviously the main time of the year that this is going to be watched. I thought the film displayed a large amount of imagination and this includes the very funny bit where the three penguins try and get into the old woman's apartment building. The snowman gag was terrific as were the scenes inside the apartment building as the penguins must deal with an angry dog. The action in the film is very fast and furious and I think it really does show how much thought went into the production. Quite often these spin off shorts have weak stories to go with them but that certainly wasn't the case here and adults and children should have a good time.

dilbertsuperman God is this ever worth a peek! Computer generated penguins doing crazy stunts. It's stupid fun but it is most assuredly FUN. The plot is one penguin thinks the polar bear needs some cheering up but he makes a big mistake in breaking the penguin buddy rule and goes off alone to try to do it. Hence the adventure begins and it is your typical toy story level of over-hygienic scenes but they are still very humorous. I thought penguins were rather gay and the thought of anyone watching them was just inviting disaster but then I watched this and I laughed out loud and realized they can be funny. But penguins are still gay. :-)The tail end is basically an advertisement for the Madagascar Brand of whatever the hell they are hawking to little kids this season.

Philip Barclay The three main characters of the film Madagascar are fairly stereotyped and have one-hit wonder stamped all over them. The penguins, one the other hand, have true potential as they make reference so many classics of the past e.g. Bilko. The short film demonstrates some of this potential and was a very welcome bonus to the also excellent Curse of the Wererabbit. There were certainly echoes of Toy Story 2, as the old lady tests the penguin to see if he squeaks with a great "bottom gag" much appreciated by the children and a similar plot line which was very well executed. Above all, children appreciated the concept of looking after each other in a world dominated by grown ups and the penguins epitomise this ideal. Needless to say, the animation is excellent.