DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar has somehow spawned two sequels, a short film, two holiday specials and a spinoff Nickelodeon series called The Penguins of Madagascar, all since 2005. That Nickelodeon series, centered on the escapades of the four paramilitary-like penguins who became fan favorites after appearing in Madagascar, is now making the trip to the big screen in a movie called Penguins of Madagascar.
The first trailer for the animated caper, due out in November, has hit the web, and you can check it out right here:
The film apparently doesn’t have much to do with the animated series, which was set largely in the Central Park Zoo. In this feature-length outing, the Penguins (voiced by Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, John DiMaggio and Christopher Knights) encounter an elite interspecies task force called the North Wind, which is dedicated to helping animals in peril. The North Wind, led by a wolf named Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch), also includes an explosive expert seal (Ken Jeong), a Russian owl (Annet Mahendru) and a Norwegian bear (Peter Stormare). In the movie, the Penguins work with the North Wind as they go up against a dastardly octopus named Octavius Brine (John Malkovich).
That’s an awesome voice cast, and I’m particularly excited to hear Cumberbatch, who has been popping up everywhere lately, take on another voice-acting gig after he did such a fine job with Smaug in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Simon J. Smith (Bee Movie) and Eric Darnell (Antz, the other Madagascar films) are co-directing Penguins of Madagascar from a script by Michael Colton and John Aboud. Both Smith and Darnell have strong track records in animation, and Colton and Aboud are two very funny guys, so I’m optimistic about Penguins of Madagascar‘s chances of succeeding as a fun spy caper.
Penguins of Madagascar arrives on November 26th, 2014.
