The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper is a computer-animated short produced by DreamWorks Animation (with soundtrack by Media Ventures' young-gun James Dooley), released in movie theatres and on DVD in 2005. The 12-minute film showcases the adventures of four penguins, sometimes known as The Madagascar Penguins, who live in the Central Park Zoo and are trained as spies. It premiered in theaters on October 7, 2005 with the stop-motion film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The short was directed by animation veteran Gary Trousdale, produced by Teresa Cheng, and written by Michael Lachance.
Plot
In the story, Private, the youngest penguin on the team, discovers the sorrow of Ted the Polar Bear and sets out of the zoo to find a present for him. While roaming the streets of Manhattan, he is captured by Nana (the mean old lady from the first film), who mistakes him for a chew toy for her vicious pet dog, Mr. Chew. Meanwhile, the other three penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, discover Private's absence and remember the Penguin Credo, "Never swim alone." With that in mind, they set out to rescue him.
They have an intense fight against Mr. Chew which goes entirely unnoticed by Nana, who is busy watching a football game. When they are done, Skipper lets Rico blow up the door with dynamite, which is a running gag in the film, finally attracting Nana's attention and blames Mr. Chew for making the mess.
At the end of the film they invite Ted to their home. But he had already invited several other guests, resulting in a massive sing-a-long to a parody of Jingle Bells.
Voice cast
Skipper | Tom McGrath |
Kowalski | Chris Miller |
Private | Christopher Knights |
Rico | John DiMaggio |
Old Lady | Elisa Gabrielli |
Ted the Polar Bear | Bill Fagerbakke |
Doorman, TV Announcer | Sean Bishop |
Additional Voices | ||
---|---|---|
Mitch Crater | Rif Hutton | Richard Miro |
Holly Dorff | Hope Levy | Lynnanne Zager |
Gags
- Rico is constantly regurgitating a piece of dynamite out of his stomach and asking Skipper's permission to use it three times. Finally, at the end, Skipper lets him use it.
- Nobody except Skipper knows the "credo" - "never swim alone." – The other penguins also confuse the Walrus credo ("Ha-da-da, ha-da-da doo-da dee-da!") with the other Penguin credo - "never bathe in hot oil and Bisquick."
- In an attempt to get a better view of Private while on the streets of New York, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico try to blend in with passing Catholic nuns, possibly resembling the blending technique from Assassin's Creed by Ubisoft.
- When trying to catch up with Private, the penguins attach a grappling hook to a taxi. The license plate of the taxi reads: "I8BIGAPEL," i.e. I ate big apple (New York).
- During the battle, Skipper uses Rico as a machine gun for cover fire, using swallowed mints as bullets.
- In a reference to the first film, Skipper makes several references to curse words: i.e. "Hoover Dam," "Grand Coulee Dam," "Shiitake mushrooms," "Holy Butterball."
- When Private flies across the room and smashes into the kitchen, the sports announcer on TV yells, "What a hit! Ryan is down!", an allusion to Saving Private Ryan.
- When Skipper tells Rico that Nana "didn't see anything", he makes a hand-motion similar to the Jedi mind trick.
- When the penguins stop following the nuns and roll over, they very closely assemble most widely reproduced publicity images from Charlie's Angels.
Trivia
- In the original theatrical release, both PDI and DreamWorks logos are in print form, and the G rating appears. In the DVD release, the PDI print logo is by itself, and the on-screen static DreamWorks logo appears, so don't expect to see the same version twice.
- This is the first Madagascar short to be rated G by the MPAA, unlike the Madagascar film which was rated PG.
- Wallace and Gromit meet Ginger with a case of an astronaut suit in Nana's 2nd photo painting.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation's theatrical short film, followed by First Flight.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation's short film to be rated G by the MPAA, followed by Almost Home.
DreamWorks |
---|
Feature Films |
Antz (1998) • The Prince of Egypt (1998) • The Road to El Dorado (2000) • Chicken Run (2000) • Shrek (2001) • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) • Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) • Shrek 2 (2004) • Shark Tale (2004) • Madagascar (2005) • Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) • Over the Hedge (2006) • Flushed Away (2006) • Shrek the Third (2007) • Bee Movie (2007) • Kung Fu Panda (2008) • Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) • Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) • How to Train Your Dragon (2010) • Shrek Forever After (2010) • Megamind (2010) • Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) • Puss in Boots (2011) • Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) • Rise of the Guardians (2012) • The Croods (2013) • Turbo (2013) • Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) • How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) • Penguins of Madagascar (2014) • Home (2015) • Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) • Trolls (2016) • The Boss Baby (2017) • Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) • How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) • Abominable (2019) • Trolls World Tour (2020) • The Croods: A New Age (2020) • Spirit Untamed (2021) • The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021) • The Bad Guys (2022) |
Upcoming Films |
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) • Meet the Gillmans (2023) • Trolls 3 (2023) |
Feature Films in Development |
Mice & Mystics • Shrek 5 • Dog Man |
Direct-to-Video Films |
Joseph: King of Dreams (2000) |
Digital films |
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021) |
Canceled Films |
Tusker • The Wanderer • Tortoise Vs. Hare • Truckers • Monsters Vs. Aliens 2 • Me & My Shadow • Monkeys of Mumbai • Rumblewick • B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations • Giants: Forces of Nature • Larrikins • Zodiac • Spooky Jack |
TV specials |
Shrek the Halls (2007) • Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space (2009) • Merry Madagascar (2009) • Scared Shrekless (2010) • Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010) • Gift of the Night Fury (2011) • Madly Madagascar (2013) • Trolls Holiday (2017) • How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019) • Trolls: Holiday in Harmony (2021) |
Shorts |
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party! (2001) • Shrek 4-D (2003) • Sinbad and the Cyclops Island (2003) • Far Far Away Idol (2004) • Club Oscar (2005) • The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (2005) • First Flight (2006) • Hammy's Boomerang Adventure (2006) • Secrets of the Furious Five (2008) • B.O.B.'s Big Break (2009) • Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010) • Donkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular (2010) • Megamind: The Button of Doom (2011) • Thriller Night (2011) • The Pig Who Cried Werewolf (2011) • Night of the Living Carrots (2011) Book of Dragons (2011) • Gift of the Night Fury (2011) • Secrets of the Masters (2011) • Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos (2012) • Almost Home (2014) • Rocky and Bullwinkle (2014) • Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014) • Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll (2016) • Bird Karma (2018) • Bilby (2018) • Marooned (2019) • To: Gerard (2020) |
TV series |
Toonsylvania (1998) • Invasion America (1998) • Alienators: Evolution Continues (2001–2002) • Father of the Pride (2004–2005) • The Penguins of Madagascar (2008–15) • Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (2011–2016) • DreamWorks Dragons (2012-2018) • Monsters vs. Aliens (2013-2014) • Turbo FAST (2013–2016) • VeggieTales in the House (2014-2016) • All Hail King Julien (2014-2017) • The Adventures of Puss in Boots (2015-2018) • Dinotrux (2015-2018) • The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show (2015-2017) • Dawn of the Croods (2015-2017) • Noddy, Toyland Detective (2016-present) • Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016-2018) • Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh (2016-2018) • Trollhunters (2016-2018) • VeggieTales in the City (2017) • Spirit Riding Free (2017-2020) • Trolls: The Beat Goes On! (2018-2019) • The Boss Baby: Back in Business (2018-2020) • The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (TV series) (2018-2019) • Harvey Street Kids (2018-2020) • The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants (2018-2020) • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018-2020) • Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny (2018-2019) • 3 Below (2018-2019) • Where's Waldo? (2019-present) • Archibald's Next Big Thing (2019-present) • Dragons: Rescue Riders (2019-present) • Cleopatra in Space (2019-present) • Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (2020) • Rhyme Time Town (2020-present) • Madagascar: A Little Wild (2020-present) • Wizards (2020) • Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020-present) • The Mighty Ones (2020-present) • Doug Unplugs (2020-present) • Trolls: Trollstopia (2020-present) • Gabby’s Dollhouse (2021-present) • Go, Dog. Go! (2021-present) • Dragons: The Nine Realms (2021-present) • The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib (2022-present) |
Upcoming TV series |
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight (2022) • Felix the Cat (TBA) • Bearbrick (TBA) • Megamind's Guide to Defending Your City (TBA) • Abominable and the Invisible City (TBA) |