This is an 11-minute short film from 10 years ago and was released directly after the first Madagascar movie. The main characters from the film have short cameos at the beginning and end of this one here, but it's really all about the penguins this time, quite a while before they got their own television series and, more recently, their own theatrical movie.
The penguins are busy with Christmas preparations, but one of them feels sorry for the polar bear being alone during the holidays and heads off to town to buy him a little present. Unfortunately, during this adventure, he gets caught by the Old Lady (another cameo) and is in danger of becoming a present himself. Luckily, his pals are already on their way to rescue him and fight an evil poodle while they are at it.
The film's director is Gary Trousdale, who directed very famous animated movies such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" long before this was made. Michael Lachance, the writer, worked also on "King Fu Panda", "Shrek 2" and of course "Madagascar". These 11 minutes are mostly for children. You could see that they did not want to go too serious for example in the one scene when we see fish wrapped as Christmas presents and they were still alive and moving. Death should not have a place in light films like this one. All in all, worth a watch I would say, especially if you like the feature films. I always found the penguins funny and it's nice to see them get some love here. Oh and feel free to sing along at the end. Recommended.
The penguins are busy with Christmas preparations, but one of them feels sorry for the polar bear being alone during the holidays and heads off to town to buy him a little present. Unfortunately, during this adventure, he gets caught by the Old Lady (another cameo) and is in danger of becoming a present himself. Luckily, his pals are already on their way to rescue him and fight an evil poodle while they are at it.
The film's director is Gary Trousdale, who directed very famous animated movies such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" long before this was made. Michael Lachance, the writer, worked also on "King Fu Panda", "Shrek 2" and of course "Madagascar". These 11 minutes are mostly for children. You could see that they did not want to go too serious for example in the one scene when we see fish wrapped as Christmas presents and they were still alive and moving. Death should not have a place in light films like this one. All in all, worth a watch I would say, especially if you like the feature films. I always found the penguins funny and it's nice to see them get some love here. Oh and feel free to sing along at the end. Recommended.