Merry Madagascar

The gang is leaving Madagascar on their home-made balloon when Julien and his lemur subjects shoot them down. They're actually shooting for the red night goblin. When coal starts raining down, Alex fires the shot that takes down the goblin who turns out to be Santa Claus. The reindeers leave after fighting with the penguins over the cold war between north and south poles. The concussed Santa decides to stay with the lemurs. The gang decides to deliver the gifts themselves pulled by the penguins flying with magic dust. This is a Christmas TV special. The great thing is that the characters are what they are supposed to be. Julien would definitely shoot down Santa Claus. This has all the main Madagascar characters. The penguins have a lot of fun. This is solid work from the family friendly franchise.

The Penguins of Madagascar movie finally seems real. Anyway, I remember that the script of Merry Madagascar was leaked before this short. Santa crashes on Madagascar, and he can't remember he is Santa. It's like Muppets Takes Manhattan where Kermit can't remember who he was after being ran Down by a car. The penguins including Alex and his friends must go out to save Christmas. Travelling from Greenland to New York City. Later on are Alex having a foresight of the fourth movie. The middle of last decade had rows of animated movies with crude jokes, cute animals and pop culture references. Shrek and Madagascar was some of those that survived it. I recommend animation fans to find this movie somewhere. 9/10

Merry Madagascar is a made for television special that sees the zoo animals trying to escape Madagascar and get back to their zoo in New York before Christmas. They try to escape by a hot air balloon which is shot down by King Julius and his band of lemurs who mistake them for the Red night goblin. This is because every year on December 24th someone flies through the sky showering coals at Julius. Alex the lion shoots down this villain and discover that its is Santa Claus and he now has amnesia. Alex and the gang have to save Christmas by delivering the presents and reindeer's and penguins need to put their old rivalry aside. The animation short, it is only about 20 minutes long and is a festive cash in but their is enough pizazz in the story to keep the young ones interested with a dash of Romeo and Juliet thrown in as the penguins with the help of magic dust help the animals deliver the presents. The animation is rather vanilla but good enough for a television special and DVD extra.

I have to say I'm usually not too big on these animated half-hour short films which are often spin-offs from feature films serving as a bridge until the next sequel and quite a few of these come out for the holidays and usually convey a message of what Christmas really is about. Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special didn't wow me, the Prep&Landing films I found rather underwhelming too, but Madagascar's take on the matter is really well done and makes for a pretty good watch. It runs for 28 minutes, but a huge part of that is the exaggeratedly long credits, but at least we get a famous song sung from one of the characters. There's some smart writing included, like the Cold War reference between reindeer and penguins and resulting thereof the Romeo-and-Juliet story featuring Natalie Wood's famous Latino accent for the female reindeer. In general, it's packed with film references (Casablanca etc.), which definitely elevated the material for me. The animation is as good as the one from the feature films and it may have been a good decision by the makers to not get too Christmas-y. Others have tried and failed, but this approach turned out successful and also has the effect that it can be watched pretty much anytime of the year without feeling inappropriate. However, that does not mean it does not have a couple holiday-relevant scenes that touch the heart, like the lion's comment on how he just wants to see snow, the penguins leading the sleigh like reindeer or the little girl being so filled with joy that she's hugging everybody from the gang. Definitely recommended.

Merry Madagascar (2009) *** (out of 4) Fun short has Santa Claus being shot down on an island and is struck with amnesia. Not being able to deliver the presents, the Madagascar gang offers to do it for him because not only do they want to save Christmas but they too want to get back home. This isn't the greatest film ever made but if you enjoyed the features then it's probably a safe bet that you're going to enjoy this. I think the producers made a very good choice in making this a short because there's no way the story could have supported a feature of its own. I think there are some very interesting ideas and jokes scattered throughout the film, although at the same time I will admit that not all of the jokes work. I think the highlight of the film is when Santa's reindeer get ready to do battle with the penguins because originally Santa was doing his business from the South Pole. This was a smart and funny joke that's clearly the best moment of the film. Other highlights include the gang trying to deliver gifts and the first house and its accident is certainly funny. At just around 20-minutes the film moves along well enough and is worth watching during the holidays.

Dreamworks usually sucks at making movies, but now they seem to fail at making Christmas specials. I mean, Christmas time is the perfect time to make a Christmas short, but this one just sucked. It was the typical Santa Claus with give not get messages in it. Plus the jokes weren't that great, there was a lot of side distractions (really? Penguin and Cupid?) as well as just plain old inappropriate "take advantage of Santa" moments. I know that you cannot mention Christ in anything these days, for fear of offending people, but if you don't mention Christ, then it really isn't a Christmas special, rather it's a holiday special. But I give them a 5 for effort.

I watched this short film at Christmas this year along with countless other films and programmes that feel like they have been made because they have to be for the festive season rather than being a case of someone having a great idea and everyone wanting to do it. The plot is simple – calling him the "Red Goblin", King Julian succeeds in shooting down Santa Claus, meaning that the New Yorkers have to leave the island on Santa's sledge and, with the help of the penguins, make sure that all the presents are delivered and that Christmas is saved. Meanwhile, on the island, an amnesiac Santa joins in the annual celebrations of Julianuary – a festive period where everyone gives the King presents. This TV special is quite amusing but it is not as funny or as clever as the recent Penguins spin-off show and part of the problem is the same problem I have with the films. This is that the main characters are actually not that good as characters. OK, they are almost a necessary evil in terms of the narrative but really time spent with them makes you think you're missing out on something better with the other side characters. The global sleigh ride is amusing but seems a bit cloying and obvious and the film is at its best where we are back on the island with King Julian. These sections have their own "message" but Julian is a great character and these bits are well written with his usual selfish self-importance and produces plenty of good laughs (such as the carol singing bit). The Penguins produce a few good laughs as well but their role doesn't give them much to do and I didn't think they worked as well as they have done elsewhere. Likewise Mort can be relied upon for easy laughs. These good bits do well to carry the film while the main animals go around the world – these bits are quite funny but just not as good as the rest. Ironic then that all the stars are back for these main animals while Cohen didn't do Julian. This is not a problem though because, as with the TV show, Jacobs does a very good job of making the character his own and delivering with timing. Overall Merry Madagascar is an enjoyable little festive offering but this is almost despite of itself. It has the feel of something that was a business decision rather than something everyone wanted to do and, while funny, the presence of the four main characters repeats the problem in the films – the strongest material lies with the supporting characters, not the New Yorkers.