Penguins of Madagascar 2014

Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: Once again the Madagascar team have come up with a winner -- a nice way to kick off the Thanksgiving and holiday filmgoing experience for the whole family. Read more

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press: "Penguins of Madagascar" is a passible, inoffensive addition to DreamWorks Animation's canon, even if there's a faint whiff of a North Wind spin-off sullying the contained story. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A lazy, noisy ADHD-addled collection of animated cliches guaranteed to give anyone older than 5 a headache, even if you don't see it in optional 3-D. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: These penguins really are cute, the animation is consistently appealing, and the movie is obviously bound for megamoolah at the box office. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Penguin power! Submit to it. Resistance is futile. Read more

Geoff Berkshire, Variety: A limp attempt at cute and cuddly international intrigue. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Frenetic and frequently funny, Penguins Of Madagascar represents the DreamWorks Animation franchise style -- which boils down to self-aware, but naive, talking animals who learn kid-friendly life lessons -- at its most palatable. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: All the glossy, kinetic animation and inventive action sequences get lost in the gag machine. The film throws jokes out like a tennis-ball machine on the fritz: gross humor, slapstick pratfalls, bizarre non sequiturs. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: Beyond some imagery, we don't get much that's bigger or better than on TV. Nothing narratively richer, certainly. Read more

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News: May the sequels commence. Read more

Patrick Dunn, Detroit News: While "Madagascar"'s young faithful will likely get the most out of this flick, even they are likely to find they prefer these penguins in smaller doses. Read more

Maricar Estrella, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: However, even with all of well-intentioned references and good humor, Penguins doesn't break new ground. The film is fun, light-hearted fare that could be watched in the comfort of a long car ride to Grandma's house. Read more

Jeff Labrecque, Entertainment Weekly: Penguins of Madagascar aims primarily for the kiddies, racing from one frenetic action sequence to another like some haywire Walter Lantz cartoon. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: While there are plenty of madcap antics to fill a feature, all that manic energy ultimately proves to be more exhausting than exhilarating. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The story, like everything else, tries to do too much. It's an origins story, a mission impossible, a coming-of-age saga, a revenge story. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Passable entertainment if you're 7. Otherwise, frenzied and aimless. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Granted, it's no classic, but a sassy script and good-natured voice work from Benedict Cumberbatch and John Malkovich should keep kids and grownups entertained over the holidays. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times: The lack of originality is offset by sheer silliness, including Classified and Skipper's Abbott and Costello-style argument over whether there's a long I in "diversion." The word fits the movie. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: If Penn-wings of Madagascar has a certain machine-made feel about it (and it does), that doesn't mean attention hasn't been paid to the animation. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: The pacing is so zany, the jokes are so rapid-fire and the sight gags are so inspired that it's impossible not to get caught up in the infectious energy of it all. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Directors Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith keep up a headlong pace -- if one joke or sight gag misfires, there'll be another one soon. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It could be a solid favorite. For viewers under 12, that is. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A relentless procession of animated mayhem that has little to do with classical storytelling, and everything to do with the imperative of cynically pandering to short attention spans. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Thanksgiving is a time for family and for shirking work, and out of respect for both traditions-and in recognition that I am surely not in the movie's demographic sweet spot-I'm handing the heavy lifting over to my kids, Tom (11) and Alexandra (9). Read more

Geoff Pevere, Globe and Mail: Leaving the cute to the bigger kids on the block, with this movie, Dreamworks is opting for pure crazy. And sure enough, the strategy, this time anyway, has paid off in the most unnatural dividend imaginable: darned if these penguins don't fly. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It may be a case of damning with faint praise to say that Penguins of Madagascar never really gets a chance to bore, since it never slows down. Read more

Inkoo Kang, TheWrap: The unfunny, unmoving, and uninspired Penguins never persuades us of its need to exist. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: Frantic and silly. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: This is a joyless, frenetic film that is very rarely funny. Read more

Simon Abrams, Village Voice: Plays like a sampler of Dreamworks Animation's worst creative impulses: sugar-rush pacing, pandering meta-gags, and a slick, flavorless animation style. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: You have to respect a kids' cartoon that kicks off with a Werner Herzog joke - even one so willfully, wondrously stupid and lighthearted as Penguins of Madagascar. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: A delightfully silly star turn for this quartet of absurd little birds, who operate as a team of commandos. Read more