2014 animated spin-off
Rating: 13/20 (Abbey: 13/20; Buster: 20/20)
Plot: A quartet of clever penguins try to stop an evil octopus from doing something dastardly.
This was recommended multiple times by my friend Josh, but I hesitated for a few reasons. First, my own kid didn't even want to watch it. Second, I really hated Madagascar. Third, I suspected that Josh was trying to get revenge for my recommendation of Trash Humpers.
This is better than Madagascar. The animation is lively, the story reminded me of the chaotic freewheeling fun of old Looney Tunes cartoons, the penguin characters (well, at least three of them) have likable personalities, there are some cute visual gags, and John Malkovich is as good voicing an evil octopus as you think he'd be. I wonder how Malkovich felt about some of the puns, a lot of them plays on celebrity names, he had to get through with this thing. "Nicolas, cage them." "Hugh, Jack, man the battle stations." "Kevin, bake on." When I first met Malkovich in movies, he seemed humorless to me, the type of actor who would probably bite somebody on the head if he even heard a pun. It wasn't really until Being John Malkovich that I saw him differently. Movies like this are sometimes only as good as their bad guys, and this shape-shifting octopus is a pretty good one.
The best thing about this, and what hooked me since it was right at the beginning of the movie, is that Werner Herzog provides his voice (that voice!) as a documentary filmmaker. I'm sure that was a stretch for him. I'm willing to bet this is the first time Herzog's said the words "chubby bum bums."
Once the story really settles in, it becomes a little predictable and loses steam. I also didn't like the North Face, a high-tech undercover spy organization, much. Scenes feel superfluous, and I think any more time spent with these characters would have been too much time. But there's enough fun for both adults and kids.
It will take me years of planning to get the satisfaction of seeing you suffer like I did for "Trash Humpers."
ReplyDeleteSince I've become a father, I never thought someone could obsess over something more than me. I was wrong - dead wrong. Maxwell watches movies in spans of 6 months at a time. I watched episodes of "Bear In the Big Blue House" until I vomited from vertigo. I sat through a cartoon called "Wheels On the Bus" for so long, I legitimately thought it was good and became defensive of it whenever people would comment on how dumb it was. Here's an episode of it (starring Roger Daltrey as Argon the Dragon)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB6u8zs2HXg
So, like I said, for a kid's movie, I liked it the first time I saw it, and I gladly welcomed it into my life...even after hundreds of viewings.
I forgot to comment on your comment.
ReplyDeleteThat "Wheels on the Bus" thing was really dumb.
Ok, just kidding. I wanted to see you get defensive about it.