Penguins Of Madagascar

(G) ★★★

Director: Eric Darnell & Simon J Smith.

Cast: (voices of) Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Conrad Vernon, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Malkovich, Ken Jeong, Annet Mahendru, Peter Stormare.

The Wandering Sea Chicken is renowned for its chameleonic abilities.

THERE'S always been something pleasantly average about the Madagascar films.

They've never packed the emotional punch of Up or one of the Toy Stories, they've never been as deep as the How To Train You Dragon movies or The Incredibles, and they've never been as funny as the early Shreks or Monsters Inc.

Instead, the Madagascar franchise has simply coasted along on its wacky charms and a healthy dose of way-over-the-top slapstick. Spin-off film Penguins Of Madagascar is very much cut from the same cloth. There is little in the way of deeper themes or big ideas - just plenty of enjoyable silliness, bad puns, and inventive set-pieces.

The focus is on the waddling quartet of Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private, who were side characters but scene-stealers in the Madagascar trilogy thanks to their ad hoc militaristic approach to everything.

Set in the wake of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, the feathered foursome stage a daring raid on Fort Knox where they come face-to-face with their hitherto unknown nemesis Dave The Octopus (Malkovich), who is hell-bent on ridding the world's zoos of penguins.

While the penguins are keen to stop Dave, so is The North Wind - "an elite undercover inter-species taskforce dedicated to helping animals that can't help themselves" - and Skipper and co find themselves battling The North Wind as much as their eight-legged foe.

Naturally there's a "work together" motif here, but it's minimal. The filmmakers are more interested in absurd sightgags (penguins in lederhosen or riverdancing), insane action sequences (penguins hijacking a Venetian canoe to escape evil octopuses), and some terrible puns involving actors' names (which will go right over the kids' heads and aren't even that funny anyway).

It's a good thing the penguins themselves are so likeable and well voiced because the film is an empty vessel making a lot of noise otherwise. McGrath, Miller, Knights and Vernon voice their characters well, with the lead birds of Skipper and Kowalski getting all the best lines.

Strangely, given the talent involved, Dave The Octopus (Malkovich) and North Wind leader Agent Classified (Cumberbatch) seem miscast - their voices just don't seem quite right for the characters, possibly due to Malkovich and Cumberbatch really underplaying things. It's a minor quibble really, because they're not that bad, but you would just expect more from two such charismatic performers. And why isn't more made of the fact that Cumberbatch can't actually pronounce the word "penguin" properly (Google it if you don't believe me)?

There is nothing necessarily wrong with Penguins Of Madagascar - it's just merely a bright and noisy diversion rather than being truly great all-ages entertainment like Big Hero 6 or just about any Pixar film.

In fact, there is a spy-movie undertone here similar to Cars 2, which happens to be the only bad film in the Pixar back catalogue, but it has to be said that Penguins Of Madagascar does it better.

If nothing else, that's a win, but really this film just continues the Madagascar franchise trend of being pleasantly average.