By Mark HadleyTuesday 30 Dec 2014MoviesReading Time: 3 minutes
Penguins of Madagascar is a spin-off from the escapee zoo crew franchise that’s already generated three major films that’s enjoyable, if a little predictable. What’s not so expected though is the sleight of hand involving the movie’s message.
The film picks up immediately after the end of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, neatly side-stepping the storylines created by six seasons of penguin TV episodes. The feature delves into Skipper, Kowalski and Rico’s early lives and the day they saved Private’s egg from Leopard Seals. The moment he bursts from the shell Private’s cuteness carves a place in his pal’s hearts:
Private:”Are you my family?”
Skipper: “You know what? You’ve got us, and we’ve got each other… and if that ain’t family, I don’t know what is.”
Paradoxically, though, it’s this same cuteness that also saddles him with a reputation for being useless. As they break into Fort Knox to celebrate Private’s coming of age, Skipper asks him:
Skipper: “If you could have anything you want for your birthday what would you like?”
Private: “I’d like to be a meaningful and valued member of this team.”
Skipper: “Well, we’ve got you something else!”
And so, though an evil Octopus (John Malkovich) swings in, bent on stealing the cuteness of penguins across the world, and he’s opposed by a mysterious organization called the North Wind, led by the arctic wolf Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch), the audience is left in no doubt that this is really a story about Private finding his place in his adopted family. Without giving away any of the crazy hi-jinx and jokes, it’s no surprise that the film ends with Skipper pronouncing:
“If there’s anything we’ve learnt from this delightful adventure it is that looks don’t matter. It’s what you do – and look what you did!”
Which is exactly what kids and parents will hear – while they see something completely different.
As Christians, any film that underlines the link between our actions and our value should encourage us. Jesus notes on more than one occasion that God looks on the heart, and our deeds are a reflection of what resides there. Furthermore, when we see our sin for what it is we should realise we have a heart problem only God can fix. So on the surface Penguins is a good building block for those sorts of lessons. But this wouldn’t be the first film that says one thing and does another…
To begin with even though ‘looks don’t matter’ you’ll notice how absolutely important it is for our heroes to make sure all the good guys get back to being good looking by the end of the show. That might be just Disney protecting the franchise but there’s also something else. I don’t think Skipper really wants to be judged by his actions, especially the destruction of a $19 million dollar spy jet. I think what he means – what the writers mean – is that we should be judged by what we intended to do. Skipper and his crew of daredevil penguins were out to save Private, and everything that careered out of control, crashed and exploded can be put down to that. In fact any level of chaos is justifiable, so long as you have a good reason.
This is what a fantasy like Penguins and our own society have in common. We’re much more comfortable with the idea of being judged by our intentions because they can be presented as uniformly good, even if their outcomes aren’t. But that’s to break Jesus’ link between heart and hand, and that just won’t do, not even for a G rating.
Rating: G
Distributor: Disney
Release Date: January 1, 2015