Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/440033
16 UCW DEC. 31 - JAN. 6, 2015 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Penguins of Madagascar (92 minutes) is a f ine family f ilm. It is also a f ilm w it h a high human body count . I'm not t r y ing to ruin anyone's enjoy ment, but if your children drag you to t he t heater, you can amuse yourself by calculat ing exact ly how many billions of dollars' wor t h of damage t he peng uins cause and how many men, women and children are probably dead as a result of t heir ant ics. The f ilm opens w it h some March of the Penguins-inspired docu- ment ar y-st yle foot age w it h voiceover. Oddly, Werner Herzog , one of t he greatest modern German f ilmmakers, voices t he document arian recording t he progress of t he peng uins. Hilariously, when t hree peng uin chick s run af ter an egg to rescue it f rom leop- ard seals, he orders his crew to shove t hem over a ledge. Sk ipper ( Tom McGrat h), Kowalsk i (Chris Miller) and R ico (Conrad Vernon) sur v ive, protec t ing t he egg in R ico's stomach and blow ing up an abandoned ship in t he pro- cess. W het her or not t his k ills t he document ar y crew is debat- able, but t he result ant debris was undoubtedly f illed w it h Ant arc t ic animal-k illing chemicals and env ironment dest roy ing oil. The egg hatches, and out pops Private (Christopher K night s). The four peng uins head out on an iceberg to w reak dest ruct ion on t he rest of t he world. The narrat ive pick s up af ter t he event s of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. The t hree foster daddy peng uins celebrate t he bir t hday of t heir compat riot w it h Cheesy Dibbles f rom a For t K nox vending machine. During t heir heist, an ev il octopus named Dave ( John Malkov ich) capt ures t hem and t akes t hem to Venice. Dave, apparent ly a graduate of t he James Bond School of Villainy, spends a lot more t ime t alk ing about why he want s revenge on pen- g uins t han on act ually t ak ing revenge, which give t he peng uins t ime to escape. During t heir escape t hey rampage t hrough t he canals of Venice, break ing , smashing , and crashing t heir way t hrough t he cit y. W hile cornered in an alley by Dave's hench-puses, our heroes are saved by an interspecies MI-5 called t he Nor t h Wind. Their leader, a wolf dubbed Classif ied (Benedict Cumberbatch) by Sk ipper, explains t heir mission, but not how t hey f unded all t heir elaborate technolog y and weaponr y. How t hey learned how to operate all t hat tech in t heir relat ively brief lifespans is also lef t to t he imaginat ion. The rest of t he team consist s of Shor t Fuse t he harp seal (Ken Jeong), Corporal t he polar bear (Peter Stormare) and Eva t he snow owl (Annet Mahendru). I'm so glad t hey made one of t he impor t ant characters a f lir t at ious girl so t hat one of t he boy characters has a love interest to mot ivate his act ions. I am completely sat isf ied w it h t his nod to gender equalit y and w ill def initely not include a sarcasm-laden note about it in my f ilm rev iew. Any way, Nor t h Wind t ranquilizes t he peng uins w it h dar t s, and ships t hem of f to a safe house in Madagascar. W hen t he peng uins realize what 's going on, t hey drop t he cargo doors, causing explosive decom- pression and k illing t he human pilot s in t he subsequent crash (I'm speculat ing here). On t heir way to a safe landing , t hey compromise t he integrit y of several more planes, ensuring t he deat h of hundreds (if not t housands) more. The body count cont inues to mount in t he second half of t he f ilm, but t he peng uins sur v ive to k ill again. There is a mid- credit s scene, if you feel like sit t ing around. Now play ing at Wy nnsong 7, Market Fair 15, Carmike 7 and Pat riot 14. Penguins Want Us Dead Penguins of Madagascar (Rated PG) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200.