'Penguins of Madagascar,' black and white and frenetic all over

 Let's hope that when Penguins of Madagascar arrives on DVD a few months from now, one of the extras is footage of John Malkovich in the recording studio, giving voice to the movie's archvillain, a gigantic, gigantically obnoxious purple octopus, Dr. Octavius Brine, also known as Dave. Just the sight of the distinguished thespian in over-the-top mode, eyes bulging, lips curling, forehead crinkling as he bellows, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go do some shoppping - for REVENGE!" . . . Well, it's a reason to live, isn't it?

An insistently antic and intermittently clever spin-off of the DreamWorks Animation Madagascar franchise, Penguins finds our flightless heroes - Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and the hatchling Private - caught up in a global caper involving Octavius' dastardly plot to mutate the much-loved waddlers from the South Pole so they become hideously un-cute, and un-loved by humankind.

Aiding and annoying the feathered foursome in this hugger-mugger is an ultra-cool task force of international spies known as the North Wind. The team comprises a snowy owl, a polar bear, a seal, and, leading them all, a debonair gray wolf with the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch. (Listen closely. The British actor and highbrow heartthrob has been on the talk-show circuit recently, joking about how he cannot for the life of him pronounce the word penguins. And truly, he cannot. "Penn-wings" is the best he can do.)

If Penn-wings of Madagascar has a certain machine-made feel about it (and it does), that doesn't mean attention hasn't been paid to the animation. The hundreds of modelers, surfacers, effects artists, matte painters, coffee pourers responsible for the computer-generated imagery produced some nice touches, like the fluffy tuft atop Private's head that gets tousled in the tundra wind, or the teeming lower Manhattan cityscapes that serve as the stage for the climactic, chaotic face-off between the forces of good and evil, seabird and mollusk.

Parental units who manage to remain conscious through the kiddie-centric proceedings can either savor, or groan at, Malkovich's bespectacled Octavius barking punny, celebrity name-dropping orders to his minions. Examples: "Drew, Barry, more power!" and "Nicolas, cage them!" and "Halle, bury them!"

Alas, "John, malkovich them!" doesn't make the cut.

Directed by Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith. With the voices of Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Conrad Vernon, Benedict Cumberbatch, John Malkovich. Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox.

Running time: 1 hour, 32 mins.

Parent's guide: PG (cartoon mayhem, adult themes).

Playing at: area theaters.EndText

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