Christmas Specials Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Christmas Specials Wiki

Penguinschristmascaper
PenguinsWithTedThePolarBear

The Penguins with Ted the polar bear.

AlexMartyGloriaAndMelmanInAChristmasCaper

Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman's cameo at the beginning of the short.

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper is a computer-animated short produced by DreamWorks Animation, and the first Christmas-themed production spun off from the Madagascar films. The 12-minute film showcases a Christmas-themed adventure starring the Penguins of Madagascar (as titled by their later series on Nickelodeon). The short premiered in theaters on October 7, 2005, in front of the film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It was directed by animation veteran Gary Trousdale, produced by Teresa Cheng, and written by Michael Lachance.

Synopsis[]

On a Christmas Eve sometime before the events of the original Madagascar film, the animals of the New York Zoo are all celebrating on Christmas Eve, except for the lonely polar bear, Ted. Private, seeing how sad Ted is, asks Skipper if they can go give Ted a present, but Kowalski says they do not have one. In spite of this, Private slips out of the zoo on Christmas Eve to find a present for Ted. About half an hour later, the other three Penguins notice that Private is missing and go looking for him.

While roaming the streets of Manhattan, Private searches for Ted's present at a toy kiosk, but is suddenly nabbed by Nana (the mean old lady from the first film), who mistakes him for a chew toy. She purchases Private and brings him home as a Christmas present for her vicious dog, Mr. Chew. Unbeknownst to Nana, the other three penguins manage to sneak into the apartment building in which she lives and break into her apartment to save Private. They escalate into chaos against Mr. Chew, all-the-while unnoticed by Nana, who is very occupied watching a football game. When they are done, they blow up the door with dynamite (something Rico has been wanting to use throughout the picture) and make their getaway, leaving Mr. Chew to be harshly scolded by Nana for what the penguins have done to her place.

As the penguins head back to the zoo, Private admits he still feels sorry for Ted, so the penguins invite Ted to their home for Christmas. But he has already invited several other guests (including the main characters from the movies), resulting in a massive sing-a-long to a parody of "Jingle Bells".

Songs[]

Title Performed by
"Jingle Bells"
  • The Brain Setzer Orchestra
  • Brave Combo
"Jingle, Jingle, Jingle" (instrumental) James Michael Dooley

Availability[]

Right after the short's original theatrical release, it made its DVD debut as a bonus feature on the original DVD release of the first Madagascar movie, released on November 15, 2005. At the same time, in Walmart stores, it was available on "The Penguins' Wrecked-Out Holidays" DVD that was released in their exclusive two-pack with Madagascar. It was later released on a DVD titled Party with the Penguins, which was sold only as part of a two-disc DVD set with Merry Madagascar at Walmart starting November 19, 2009, in the USA. When Merry Madagascar was re-released as a wide retail DVD, the short was included as a bonus feature. It was later featured on the DreamWorks Holiday Collection compilation Blu-ray and DVD, released on October 30, 2012. The short can also be found on Netflix, under the DreamWorks shorts collections, DreamWorks Holiday Collection, and Happy Holidays from Madagascar, released by Classic Media. Its latest release was as part of the Madasgascar: The Ultimate Collection and DreamWorks Ultimate Holiday Collection Blu-ray and DVD sets, distributed by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, on October 15, 2019.

Cast[]

Cc hero
Voice actor/actress Character
Tom McGrath Skipper
Chris Miller Kowalski
Christopher Knights Private
John DiMaggio Rico
Elisa Gabrielli Nana
Bill Fagerbakke Ted the Polar Bear
Sean Bishop Doorman
TV announcer
Hope Levy
Rif Hutton
Richard Miro
Mitch Carter
Lynnanne Zager
Additional voices

Note: Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, Mason and Phil appear at the beginning and ending of the short, but do not have speaking parts.

Videos[]

See also[]

External links[]

DreamWorks
"Spawn of Santa" • Surviving ChristmasThe Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas CaperShrek the HallsMerry MadagascarKung Fu Panda HolidayDonkey's Caroling Christmas-tacular • "The All Nighter Before Christmas" • Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury • "Present Tense" • An Ichabeezer ChristmasA Christmas PlayTrolls HolidayHow to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming • "Spirit of Christmas" • "A Wanderer Christmas" • "Merry Cloudmas" • "Botty Holidays" • "Holiday Goose Chase" • Trolls: Holiday in HarmonyHappy Sniffmas • "Harmony Harbor Holiday Surprise" • "A CAT-Tabulous Christmas" • The Boss Baby: Christmas Bonus • "Festival of Might" • "Mermaid Christmas Cruise" • The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday
Advertisement