Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

(2005-2020)

A Non-review by Professor Popinjay

This non-review encompasses everything Madagascar or Madagascar spinoff on or between the aforementioned years. Here’s a nifty list:

Madagascar

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

Penguins of Madagascar movie

Penguins of Madagascar series

All hail, King Julian

All hail, King Julian: Exiled

Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper

Madly Madagascar

All Hail, King Julian: New Year’s Eve Countdown

All Hail, King Julian: Happy Birthday to You

Merry Madagascar

This is gonna go quick because there’s not a single thing I dislike about these. Every… Single… Item… on this list… is GREAT!

Madagascar: Blew Disney’s The Wild out of the water. That film was boring af! Madagascar had not a single dull moment and was so stinking funny from start to finish. The dynamic between Marty the Zebra and Alex the Lion who starts seeing everyone as a slab of meat is hilarious. King Julien is my favorite. I couldn’t stop doing an impression of him for a long time which might have been offensive to some. The scene where the animals are all drinking sea water? Genius!The penguins stole the show a bit but that’s fine by me.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: Same as before but with new interesting situations and locales. Martin Sheen was great as Alex the Lion’s dad. Penguins were even more prominent in this one. Great film!

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted: Oh my! This one killed me! The villain, Captain Chantel Dubois, reminded me of a woman I know in real life which made it all the funnier when she freaking pulled a juggernaut move, unflinchingly running through multiple walls while chasing the animals. Then she sings “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” under a solitary spot light! She’s freaking animal control! Why is she singing “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien”!?!?! I’m dying!

That version of “Pas Parle Americano” with the train sounds added was awesome. The monkeys dressed like the “King of Versailles” had me rolling. The tiger who can inexplicably jump through a ring no bigger than a Froot Loop. What!?! How!?!

Gia, the circus leopard, triggered my ex for some reason. I know exactly why but I shan’t get into that here… or anywhere. Damn, couldn’t watch anything without it triggering her. Unbelievable. That woman would get jealous over a sack of potatoes!

Penguins of Madagascar (The Movie): Finally! John Malkovich as Dr. Octavius “Dave” Brine, the octopus villain and his celebrity-named henchmen. “Nicolas! Cage them!” “Charlize, There on the ray?” “Drew! Berry! More Power!”

I loved when the wolf spy guy is trying to explain what he and his team are all about and Skipper is just eating one cheese puff after another like he gives no shits. Then Private saves the day with the power of cuteness! These just get better and better.

Penguins of Madagascar (The Series): Fantastic Show! My favorite episodes are the one where Skipper takes Private and his “My Little Pony” fanboy friends to the “My Little Pony” ice-capade and the one where Rico (who is basically non-verbal) is constantly romancing a doll and singing to it like a jazzy crooner. I think I might be a Brony. I was so close to bingeing My Little Pony. Someday I will!

All Hail, King Julian AND All Hail, King Julian: Exiled: Yeah there’s a major difference in formula from one to the other but it’s still basically the same show with a slightly different name. That’s okay though because I’ll take all of King Julian I can get! Both shows are definitely worth the watch in my opinion. Not since Johnny Bravo has such an egotistical character been this funny. It helps that he is usually dumber than a bag of doorknobs.

Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper:

This was a twelve minute short connected with the theatrical release of Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Another great film). Private gets mistaken as a chew toy and is wrapped up in a Christmas present for the old lady’s dog Mr. Chew. What the penguins do to the lady’s apartment and dog in the process of getting Private back is fantastic. Pretty high quality stuff for a twelve minute short.

Madly Madagascar: The Valentine’s Day Special. What more can I say about these films? They’re just perfect. This one is on par with the rest. I’m afraid to ask what the children would look like if Melman the giraffe and Gloria the Hippo should ever consummate their relationship. I wouldn’t put it past Dreamworks to show us. The faux-pas of interspecies conception didn’t stop them from showing us dragon/donkey offspring in the Shrek franchise. What are we teaching people? Still funny as all get out though.

All Hail, King Julian: New Year’s Eve Countdown: This is literally just a three minute video of King Julian dancing with his constituents and then a 10-1 countdown followed by more dancing. Not sure why it’s even on this list but hey, we’re nothing if not thorough here.

All Hail, King Julian: Happy Birthday to You: For a short, this was surprisingly well written and possibly even deep if you want to read into it. I just wish I could see it again as it has fallen off the face of the internet. If anyone has any info as to where this can be streamed let me know.

Merry Madagascar: The lemurs accidentally shoot down Santa, giving him amnesia and turning him into a party nut. Meanwhile the penguins have a rivalry with the reindeer as they are literally POLAR opposites. Good stuff. This rivalry is quelled by the Romeo and Juliet relationship between a female reindeer and Private who announce… well I won’t spoil it but it got an unexpected guffaw out of me which is the highest compliment anything can get.

Madagascar: A Little Wild: is a Netflix series about baby versions of the same beloved characters. I have yet to see this but I have high hopes as obviously everything up to this point has been gold.

Sadly the latest news for Madagascar 4 is that the project was cancelled or (hopefully) put on hiatus while Dreamworks reforms. Not sure what all a reformation entails but it’s admittedly a scary word in the corporate world. Could it be the end of Madagascar properties or a downgrade of quality? We haven’t seen anything since 2020. Yikes!

PS- The Madagascar Video Game for multiple home consoles is great too.

[It’s been noted this list is missing Penguins of Madagascar: Operation Special Delivery but that is actually part of the series which specifically was released onto DVD for compulsive consumption. I confess I compulsively consumed this DVD not realizing it was just episodes from the show. You got me this time Dreamworks!]