Los pingüinos de Madagascar en una misión navideña

THe Penguin Christmas Caper is a blisteringly funny and fast paced little short that is far funnier that the film from which it spun.

Private, the least insane of the gang of Madagascar Penguins, decides to venture out into the streets of New York to buy a present for the lonely Polar Bear, who is all alone on Christmas. He is mistaken for a chew toy, and brought home by an old lady to be a present for her vicious, salivating but tiny dog. THe rest of the crew embark on a rescue mission.

Skipper barks orders, Kowlaski has the logistics and Rico, he just wants to blow something up. The jokes are in every line, and every corner of every frame of this short. Its ten minutes well spent. ***1/2 out of ****.

That is for some reason tagged onto the reels for the very halloween-y Wallace and Gromitt's Curse of the Wear Rabbit. It would have made more sense for this film to be tagged onto something in December but hey-ho.

I've not actually seen Madagascar, so I'm not immediately familiar with these characters. But I have to say that the penguins were very funny. The story has one of them leave Central Park Zoo to look for the perfect Xmas present, only to end up an Xmas present himself. The other penguins soon follow him to a posh apartment building where a blind old lady plans to give him to her evil pet poodle.

Very funny antics and hijinks follow. I wouldn't be surprised if this cartoon were nominated for an Oscar come February.

Scrat was arguably the funnies character in 'Ice Age' and he was awarded with his own very funny animated short film. The funniest characters in 'Madagascar' were the penguins and they as well get their animated short. The difference is that this short is actually better than the animated feature film.

I liked 'Madagascar' up to a point but we are spoiled with films like 'Shrek' and 'The Incredibles' and 'Madagascar is nowhere near that good. 'The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper' comes a lot closer.

The story with the penguins out in New York, three searching for a fourth, gives us plenty of laughs. I have seen this before 'Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit' and it was almost as entertaining. That really does say something!

I haven't even seen "Madagascar" yet, but because of this, I want to. I've been bragging about this to my friends ever since I saw it in front of the "Wallace and Gromit" movie. I don't care if I have to buy "Madagascar" just for the penguins, I will. I'll give you insight on what to watch out for without giving away too much: the bowling pin, "kaboom!", the #1 rule of penguins. If you don't like "Wallace and Gromit," fine. Go see it just for this. If you liked "Madagascar," you'll love this. I was always a fan of short animated films. My girlfriend and I both thought this was one of the funniest we've seen in years.

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.