Merry Madagascar

"Well, looks like our coffee break."

Once again I find myself admiring Dreamworks Animation's sheer productivity.

I mean, in terms of quality, Pixar consistently betters them, but these twenty-minute straight-to-DVD holiday specials (Shrek The Halls is another) look so effortless, and in such a great way.

Merry Madagascar is a 21-minute (+ six more for the closing credits) TV-length episode into the series, featuring Alex, Gloria, Marty and Melman's attempts to deliver an amnesiac Santa's gifts to the world on 24th Julieanuary. (local calendar) In fact, at the outset the timeframe looks a little mixed-up, as it begins with our heroes taking off from Madagascar in a hot-air balloon, and hoping to make it back to their NY zoo for Christmas, but no matter.

The penguins are here too, in part facing-off against their opposite-pole nemesises the reindeer, so for me this brief escapade satisfactorily checked all the boxes.

The plot packs a lot in, although I did feel that the brief duration didn't really allow for so many jokes this time, but that's okay.

Elsewhere on this UK disc are a few music clips from other Dreamworks outings, by way of advertising, and a 'Don't Peek!' section offering, fairly, more of the same:

"It's the wildest cart action ever to hit your favourite zoo animals!"

And these creatures see alot of cart action, judging by this cover.

Santa Claus has left Madagascar.

Really, I got this for Christmas.

(available here)
Related posts:

Madagascar
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa