''The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper'' is a 2005 American

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

produced by

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

. The 12-minute ''

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

'' spin-off features the adventures of four penguins, sometimes known as the

Madagascar Penguins This is a list of characters from the DreamWorks Animation franchise of ''Madagascar (franchise), Madagascar'' films, and the TV shows. Concept and creation Tom McGrath explained in an interview that the intention of ''Madagascar'' was not to ...

, who live in the

Central Park Zoo The Central Park Zoo is a zoo located at the southeast corner of Central Park in New York City. It is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In conjunction with the Central ...

and are trained as

spies Spies most commonly refers to people who engage in spying, espionage or clandestine operations. Spies or The Spies may also refer to: * Spies (surname), a German surname * Spies (band), a jazz fusion band * Spies (song), "Spies" (song), a song by ...

. The short premiered in theaters on October 7, 2005 with the stop-motion film '' Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit''. It was directed by animation veteran

Gary Trousdale Gary Trousdale (born June 8, 1960) is an American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of t ...

, produced by Teresa Cheng, and written by Michael Lachance.

Plot

Focusing on the ''Madagascar'' penguins and taking place before the events of the first ''Madagascar'', the youngest penguin on the team, Private, slips out of the zoo on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

to find a present for a lonely

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

named Ted. While roaming the streets of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, he is captured by Nana (the aggressive elderly lady from the first film and second film) who mistakes him for a

chew toy Chew toys are toys designed to be chewed on by animals for stimulation and boredom relief. Gnawing on a chew toy can be soothing to an animal, as well as stimulating. In young animals, such as puppies, chew toys can help relieve pain associated ...

for her vicious

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

, Mr Chew. The other three penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, rescue Private from Nana's apartment before it is too late. They escalate into chaos against Mr. Chew, all-the-while, not noticed by Nana, who is occupied watching a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

game. When they are done, they detonate the door with a stick of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

(which Rico had repeatedly attempted to use prior), finally attracting Nana's attention and leaving Mr. Chew to take the fall for what the penguins have done to her place. At the end of the film they invite Ted to their home. But he has already invited several other guests, resulting in a massive sing-a-long to a parody of

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed th ...

Voice cast

* Chris Miller as Kowalski. *

John DiMaggio John William DiMaggio (; born September 4, 1968) is an American actor. His various voice roles include Bender on ''Futurama'', Jake the Dog on ''Adventure Time'', Marcus Fenix in the '' Gears of War'' series, Dr. Drakken on '' Kim Possible'', ...

as Rico. * Tom McGrath as Skipper. *

Elisa Gabrielli Elisa Gabrielli is an American actress and comedian, who played "Pepper" Potts in the animated movie '' The Invincible Iron Man'', among other roles. Gabrielli also played the part of Miss Linley in ''The Brady Bunch Movie''. In the 2005 animated ...

as Nana. *

Christopher Knights Christopher Knights is an English voice actor, film editor, and cinematographer. He is best known for providing the voice of Private the Penguin in the ''Madagascar'' film franchise. He worked on several DreamWorks films ''Shrek'', ''Shrek 2'' ...

as Private. *Hope Levy as an Additional Voice *

Rif Hutton Rif Hutton (born November 28, 1962) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Dr. Ron Welch in the comedy-drama series ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'', appearing in that series from 1990 up to its conclusion in 1993. From ...

as an Additional Voice. *Richard Miro as an Additional Voice. *Mitch Carter as an Additional Voice. *Lynnanne Zager as an Additional Voice. *

Bill Fagerbakke William Fagerbakke ( ; born October 4, 1957) is an American actor. He voices Patrick Star in the animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and played Michael "Dauber" Dybinski on the sitcom ''Coach''. He also appeared in 12 episodes of the sitco ...

as Ted the

. *Sean Bishop as the Doorman/TV Announcer. *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as Mr. Chew.

Soundtrack

The original music for the short was composed by James Dooley. According to Dooley, he was asked to score because he "had written all the music for the penguins in the feature length, ''

''."

Home media

''The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper'' was released on later DVD editions of ''Madagascar'', ''

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenso ...

'', and ''

Shrek 2 ''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book ''Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek'' (2001) and the seco ...

'', all of which were released on November 15, 2005. It was released on Blu-ray on September 23, 2008, as a bonus feature attached to ''Madagascar''.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, The 2005 films 2005 computer-animated films 2000s American animated films 2000s animated short films 2005 comedy films American children's animated comedy films American Christmas films American computer-animated films Animated films about penguins Computer-animated short films DreamWorks Animation animated short films Films about animals Films directed by Gary Trousdale Films scored by James Dooley Films set in New York City Madagascar (franchise) 2000s English-language films