The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper
Directed by Gary Trousdale
Produced by Teresa Cheng
Written by Michael Lachance
Starring Chris Miller
John DiMaggio
Tom McGrath
Elisa Gabrielli
Christopher Knights
Bill Fagerbakke
Music by James Dooley
Production
company
Distributed by DreamWorks
Release dates
  • October 7, 2005
Running time
 12 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper is a computer-animated short produced by DreamWorks Animation. The 12-minute Madagascar spin-off features the adventures of four penguins, sometimes known as the Madagascar Penguins, who live in the Central Park Zoo and are trained as spies.

The short premiered in theaters on October 7, 2005 with the stop-motion film, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It was directed by animation veteran Gary Trousdale, produced by Teresa Cheng, and written by Michael Lachance.

Plot

Focusing on the Madagacar penguins and taking place before the events of the first Madagascar, the youngest penguin on the team, Private, slips out of the zoo on Christmas Eve to find a present for a lonely polar bear named Ted. 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 dog, Mr Chew. The other three penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, rescue Private from Nana's apartment before it is too late. They escalate into chaos against Mr. Chew, all-the-while, not noticed by Nana, who is occupied watching a football game. When they are done, they detonate the door, which is a running gag in the film, finally attracting Nana's attention and leaving Mr. Chew to take the fall for what the penguins have done to her place.

At the end of the film they invite Ted to their home. But he has already invited several other guests, resulting in a massive sing-a-long to a parody of Jingle Bells.

Voice cast

Soundtrack

The original music for the short was composed by James Dooley. According to Dooley, he was asked to score because he "had written all the music for the penguins in the feature length, Madagascar."[1]

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
8. "He Looks So Bad"  Jim Dooley 0:42
9. "Where's The Private?"  Jim Dooley 0:30
10. "Analysis!"  Jim Dooley 0:41
11. "I am Walking Here"  Jim Dooley 0:47
12. "Good Boy"  Jim Dooley 1:24
13. "Help Me Guys!"  Jim Dooley 0:26
14. "Storking Stuffer Operation"  Jim Dooley 1:36
15. "Bad Dog"  Jim Dooley 0:46
16. "Jingle End"  Jim Dooley 0:11
17. "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle - Brian Setzer"  Jim Dooley 1:49
Total length:
 23:25

Home media

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper was released on the later DVD editions of Madagascar,[2] Shrek,[3] and Shrek 2,[4] all of which were released on November 15, 2005. It was released on Blu-ray on September 23, 2008, as a bonus feature attached to Madagascar.[5]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Zsolt, Biro; Kulics, Laszlo (June 24, 2006). "Interview with James Dooley". Filmzene.net. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ McCutcheon, David (December 8, 2005). "Madagascar". IGN. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Shrek & Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (DVD) (2001) (Region 1) (US Import) (NTSC)". Amazon. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Shrek 2 & Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (DVD) (2004) (Region 1) (US Import) (NTSC)". Amazon. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Madagascar (Blu-ray)". High-Def Digest. October 1, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2012.