Meet 'The Penguins' in "Penguins of Madagascar"*

Super spy teams aren't born...they're hatched. Discover the secrets of the greatest and most hilarious covert birds in the global espionage biz: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private.

For a little humor to spark the holiday season, DreamWorks Animation is giving audiences a spin-off of the Madagascar film & television series, focusing on the supporting background characters who shone through every movie, The Penguins. Set right after the events in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, the spy thriller adventure features the cute flightless bird friends taking on a top secret mission with a team called “The North Wind” in 2014’s Penguins of Madagascar. As Puss and Boots was to The Shrek franchise, “The Penguins” are no longer scene-stealing sideshows, but now tapped for their cuteness, humor, action, and adventure for their own feature film.

As the title conveys, the movie spotlights four penguins (Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private) from the previous films, though it is not necessary to have seen the other movies to understand this one. Now, the four penguins face a situation with a new villain, Dave, requiring them to team up with another group of animal secret agents to stop Dave's evil plan. The movie opens with a preliminary back-story, and once audiences soak that in, the film throws viewers straight into the action for the majority of the film. Immediately, The Penguins capitalizes on being funny and providing an entertaining plot that includes high pace, top-notch action scenes accompanying visually stunning animation. The Venice chase sequence is particularly entertaining, especially in 3D.

In addition to the humor and animation, parents will likely find some well-known film references to add a little depth to the movie. Some of these include when the penguins team up during the climax, and parody this film's team line-up shot reminiscent of The Avengers (2012). There is also a warehouse scene in Dave’s submarine like a scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and Kowalski utters a familiar line from the 1968 Planet of the Apes.

The movie depends on providing a certain balance of action and humor, since there are several frantic and high speed villain chases along with many clever jokes, which may require a second viewing so as to catch everything. To go along with the action and humor, the voice acting is top notch. I appreciate that the movie, unlike several of its DreamWorks counterparts, did not feel the need to rely on big name celebrities. Nevertheless, it features a few main big names: Benedict Cumberbatch as “Classified,” a fellow fox secret agent; and John Malkovich as “Dave,” the villain octopus.

Viewers will be sure that the camaraderie between the four penguins is the highlight of the film. At times, the movie’s pacing is a bit manic, starting out at an extremely high pace, then taking a dive as it progresses to the end. Despite the jokes and gags being funny, some are a little childish.

While one may appreciate DreamWorks’ efforts to try something a little different from the previous Madagascar films, this one unfortunately did not meet the mark. Although the Penguins are entertaining, kids will probably enjoy it more than adults, even though many references will go over their heads. It’s as though the movie sets you up for a jam-packed entertaining joy ride, but quickly deflates like a balloon.

No question, folks will laugh at the jokes, but as a whole, the movie lacks creativity and emotion, or a lasting impact that many of the other DreamWorks and DisneyToon continuation films (How to Train Your Dragon 2, Cars 2, Planes: Fire & Rescue) have done. One specific problem is that while the penguins are entertaining in the previous movies, this one only proves that they work better in smaller doses. The film devotes too little attention to feature the penguins many of us have come to love and enjoy from the movie and TV series. One never comes to feel that the team was the focus of the show. Case in point: one of the penguins, Kowalski, may as well have stayed in the zoo.

All in all, I must admit the movie is fun and cute, but The Penguins would have been better suited for a summer release to really capitalize on the younger audiences. The Penguins offers a lot of potential; unfortunately, while Penguins of Madagascar finally escapes the rehashed feeling of the Madagascar films with something new, it still proves under-whelming.

As seen also in The Berkeley Graduate

It’s More than Just Race, It’s about Culture too… ABC’s Newest Family Comedy ‘black-ish’*

In a matter of weeks, the 2014 Fall lineup of television shows will be premiering on various networks (some have already made their debut). Fans await a dozen shows, including the new Shonda-land drama line-up on ABC (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder), NCIS [CBS], Gotham [FOX], Criminal Minds [CBS]. One show in particular making headway is ABC’s newest comedy sitcom black-ish. Kenya Barris (America’s Next Top Model & Are We There Yet?) created this new family comedy, who is also an executive-producer along with Larry Wilmore (In Living Color, The Bernie Mac Show, & The PJs), Anthony Anderson (The Departed, Transformers, & Me, Myself & Irene), and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Hannibal tv series, Boyz In the Hood).

A few days ago I had the opportunity to view a sneak preview of the new pilot that is set to premiere on September 24th. Let’s just say audiences are in for a comedic and cultural treat. Picture a family man from a middle-class African American background struggling to gain and maintain a sense of cultural identity while raising his children in a predominately white, upper-middle-class neighborhood [in what appears to be Los Angeles]. This fun-loving family consists of successful advertising executive and patriarch Andre ‘Dre’ Johnson (Anthony Anderson), his doctor wife with the intentionally problematic name Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross; Girlfriends), their four children, and their instigating but loving grandfather, Pops (Laurence Fishburne). All together, it appears as though the Johnsons are living the good life: beautiful family, great jobs, a house in the suburbs. However, has this success brought too much assimilation for the family?

Both Dre and Rainbow are successful in their respective careers, yet at times they find their viewpoints on opposing sides. Rainbow, who happens to be bi-racial, is more of the liberal in the family, and actually believes that they live in a post-racial society and that her children can live and exist in a colorless world. Then there is Dre’s father, Pops, who loves betting on horses at the race track, but also offers his – at times unsolicited – advice and opinions regarding family matters. Though the advice may be blunt, it is typically ‘spot-on’ and it is often challenging to disagree with him. As we might imagine in any family, every parent or guardian wants to be able to give their children the best that they can. However, sometimes the children have another agenda all their own. What results is the price Dre and Rainbow must pay when they have given their children more than they ever had. Raising all four children in a comfortable lifestyle in an affluent, mostly white neighborhood, has several consequences, many hilarious, contributing to Dre’s struggle and quest to keep them rooted in his idea of African American and black culture.

The pilot introduces these struggles when the oldest son, Andre Jr., or “Andy,” as he calls himself at school, announces to the family that he would like a bar mitzvah (though his family is not Jewish) along with the rest of his white schoolmates. To exacerbate the situation, he also want to play field hockey versus trying out for the basketball team. So of course Dre begins to plot ways of guiding Andre Jr./Andy back into what seems more ‘black-ish.’ Then there is Zoe, the eldest of the four children, who is smart, pretty, popular, and drenched in privilege and unjustified entitlement. Essentially, Zoe’s idea of achievement is grounded in material possessions rather than work. For Zoe, success and accomplishments are equated to having 150,000 Instagram followers. The twins, six-year-old Diane and Jack are an intriguing duo. Diane is gifted, talented, and smart, but without an outlet to funnel all her smartness. She takes every opportunity to remind people that that she is one minute older than Jack, who is the sensitive and delicate twin. He is the one child who idolizes his father, offering comments at every moment even if they come out sounding awkward. Ultimately, Dre is very dedicated and motivated to building a strong black cultural tradition for the present and future. Although he wants to live the American dream, at the same time he is striving to preserve some sort of black identity in this multi-cultural world.

At the close of the pilot episode, several thoughts and questions will definitely surface in one’s mind, such as, What does it really mean to be black?; Is it really a promotion when you become the Senior VP of Urban Affairs and you happen to also be black?; Are black and urban one and the same?; How does it feel to be ‘put on display’ and visibly black in the workplace?; and What exactly is black-ish?  Overall, this new family comedy from ABC offers a humorous yet progressive look at one father’s determination to instill some sense of cultural identity in his family. As “Dre” puts it so eloquently, “I’m gonna need my family to be black – not black-ish!!”

black-ish is set to hit television screens on Wednesday, September 24th at 9:30/8:30 CT PM.

Check out the trailer HERE:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNqqjDv6_dU !!

*As posted in The Berkeley Graduate