History WesternAnimation / PenguinsOfMadagascar

* SeldomSeenSpecies: The explosives expert of the North Wind is a harp seal named Short Fuse.

* UpToEleven: When Dave tests the ray on Private, he decides that since Private is extra cute, he should turn the power on the ray up all the way. [[spoiler:This works against him when Private escapes at the last second, as Dave assumes the ray killed him as a result of being overcharged]].
* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Said nearly word-for-word by Dave. However his solution is ''more revenge''.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Dave's sole reason for becoming an evil mastermind is due to the fact that that he feels penguins stole his glory at every zoo and aquarium where he was ever an attraction.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: [[spoiler: As a result of his own ray being used on him, Dave finally out-cutes the penguins and gets the kids' attention....having been reduced to a tiny octopus trapped inside a snowglobe a girl has run off with (shaking it violently).]]

* RevengeIsSweet: Played With. Dave is on the verge of a NearVillainVictory, having turned all the penguins that stole his limelight into ugly abominations certain to be exterminated. As he celebrates, he notes a rather empty feeling inside, which he devises can only be filled with....''more revenge'', and to enact the same on ''all'' cute lifeforms, shifting him right back to gleeful celebrating again.

* HumansAreBastards: Though the trope was mostly based on fear rather than maliciousness, Gary's whole plan relied on the fact that upon sight of the mutated penguins, the entire population would unanimaously agree to wipe the whole species off the planet.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Werner Herzogand the opening narration

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Skipper states that there was no mating between him and Dave.
** Later Skipper tells his crew to grab their coconuts, and they all reach down... and grab actual coconut shells. But Rico, instead of using them to listen to [[spoiler: the North Wind's mission]], he puts them on his chest, making them look like... OH, YOU KNOW!
** The inflatable bounce house the Penguins retrieve and inflate [[spoiler: (before falling to their deaths from the airplane)]] is named "Sweaty Palms".

As the film is in canon with the film and not the TV series, tropes about the characters within should go [[Characters/{{Madagascar}} here]].

* TrueCompanions: The penguins bond is particularly emphasized in this movie, to the point where Private (and some trailers) refer to them as "brothers".
* UnflinchingWalk:
** Lampshaded. Classified's plan for infiltrating Dave's submarine/base includes a simulated graphic of the team walking away without looking behind as the base explodes.
** Later subverted; when the submarine explodes, the North Wind indeed walk away without looking behind... [[spoiler:only to get hit by a truck crossing their path]].

* TheUnintelligible: Taking a cue from [[WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar the cartoon]], Rico becomes this where he was simply TheQuietOne in the [[WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} previous]] [[WesternAnimation/MadagascarEscape2Africa three]] [[WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted movies]]. Unlike the cartoon, he is completely unintelligible and never says anything recognizable.

'''Dave:''' Dave!?\\

'''Dave:''' Dave??\\

** [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes You maniac! You blew him up!]]

* FeetOfClay[=/=]WartsAndAll: Played with by the North Wind. While they are a competent and heroic team, they're also rather egotistical and unsympathetic, causing much of the antagonism between them and the penguins. Cemented when [[spoiler:the North Wind abandon the penguins inside Dave's submarine to "regroup", even after Private saved them from a DeathTrap.]]

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Dr. Brine looks like a human, but his movements fall deep in the UncannyValley. Justified, as he's just an octopus in disguise.

%% * BigDamnMovie: Forget relative to the cartoon, this movie is grandiose relative to the other Madagascar movies.

%% * BoisterousBruiser: Corporal.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Dave was grossed out when the mermaid penguins thought he was going to kill them.
--->'''Dave:''' What?! No! Ew. My Medusa Serum doesn't kill anyone. Where's the fun in that?

* AnAesop:
** "Looks don't matter. It's what you do that counts."
** You do have a right to be appreciated... but it's a right you have to EARN.

* BookEnds:
** The movie begins and ends with Private hatching out of something: his egg at the beginning and [[spoiler:a chrysalis]] at the end.
** Also the "95%" line.

** The movie opens with a MinorKidroduction, showing the penguins as children in Antarctica and how they became lost at sea where they eventually end up in New York, much the same way ''WesternAnimation/MadagascarEscape2Africa'' depicts this happening to Alex.
** The main plot opens with a celebration of Private's 10th birthday and escalates from there; Marty's 10th birthday similarly motivates the opening act of ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}''.
** When locked in a cage, Skipper orders Rico to bust them out, which he does by coughing up a paperclip to pick the lock with. This action in [[WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} the first movie]] is what inspired his stomach of holding abilities.
** The Penguins meet a rival group known as the North Wind, who is comprised of northern animals. The penguins don't get along with them at all, aside from one of them having a crush on the female of the group. The idea that the Antarctic Penguins would be natural rivals of Arctic life but one of the penguins having a crush on one of them also comes up in ''Merry Madagascar''.

** The Documentary Crew deliberately pushes the young Skipper, Kowalski and Rico over the side of a cliff despite just stating that the fall will most likely kill them.

In the film, which begins right after ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'', the four penguins (Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private) are breaking into Fort Knox for Private's birthday, only to cross paths with a vengeful octopus named Dave. The quartet escape from Dave's forces and hook up with the North Wind, an animal task force out to stop Dave before he can utilize his mysterious Medusa Serum. Unfortunately, the two teams of heroes end up clashing with each other, allowing Dave to proceed with his evil penguin-threatening plans...

* BigLittleMan: [[spoiler:Dave at first appears to have been turned into a giant towering over New York City, but in reality he is now tiny and trapped in one of his snow globes.]]

** The sheer fact Dave's plan counted on the humans trying to kill the penguins simply because they were hideous and scary looking (but still affectionate). Since nearly every human there calls for the exterminators in droves, the climax revolved around the penguins having to change back to being cute.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: An inversion. The penguins arriving to the zoo and stealing the spotlight from Dave with their cute antics was the StartOfDarkness for the octopus, but the penguins weren't even aware of his existence.

** At the first Madagascar movie, Skipper asks Kowalski what's written in the box they're in and he says he doesn't understand because he can't read. During the scene where Kowalski is checking the manual of the North Wind's jet he says "No, still can't read".

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Skipper, a lot. Within one action scene, he scolds Private for playing with "backpacks" (actually parachutes), says passengers on a plane they punched holes in are going to freak because of a lack of snacks, and responds to Kowalski saying a plane is at 12 o'clock (referring to its position in relation to the penguins) with "Good, it's only eleven thirty".

* FamilyOfChoice: The penguins. A brief flashback even shows a page from Private's journal, with a crayon drawing of the four of them labeled "FAMILY"

* MixAndMatchCritter: [[spoiler: The mutated penguins. In particular Skipper has a lobster claw, Kowalski has an afro, octopus tentacles and chicken feet, and Rico has dragon wings.]]

** The Penguins meet a rival group known as the North Wind, who are comprised of northern animals. The penguins don't get along with them at all, aside from one of them having a crush on the female of the group. The idea that the Antarctic Penguins would be natural rivals of Arctic life but one of the penguins having a crush on one of them also comes up in ''Merry Madagascar''.
** [[spoiler:King Julien's]] cameo in TheStinger uses an older design that would be out of date relative to the time the movie takes place, but matches how he appeared alongside the penguins in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' cartoon.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Dave is a goofball but startlingly competent and ruthless, with rather savvy handling of his minions. Even his plan to take away the penguins' cuteness was a tall order NotSoHarmlessPunishment, since he planned on it's doing so resulting in every last remainder of the species getting wiped out by terrified humans.
* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: For some reason, only hitting the ground becomes a concern when the penguins fall from a plane, when the other planes in flight they hit along the way down would probably have been a bigger concern.
* TheOner: Used for a roughly two minute long scene where the penguins fall out of the cargo hold of one airplane, slam into another airplane, actually board another plane and mess around on it a little before deciding to leave it, then barely miss getting on yet another plane, and finally fall to the ground, with the shot ending just before they actually land.

** The RunningGag of Dave saying a minion's name and then an order that coincidentally happen to sound similar to a celebrity's name.

* RetCanon: On a smaller scale. While none of the characters appear in the movie, a few details from [[WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar the show]] are carried over in this film, such as Rico's design and status as TheUnintelligible, [[spoiler:and King Julien's crown being that of the one from the first ''Madagascar'' movie.]]
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: A plot point; Dave becomes evil because penguins in general are so cute they keep stealing his attention everywhere he goes. Near the end of the movie, [[spoiler: Private uses his cuteness to save the day, and in the stinger Mort uses his to change Private.]] For examples that aren't in-universe, there's the four younger, smaller versions of the main penguins in the beginning, especially Private, who's newly hatched and pretty much just a ball of white and grey feathers.

** Skipper repeatedly forgets and mis-remembers Dave's name.

* ToothyBird: Dave has a mouth full of teeth, even though real life octopi have beaks. Averted with his minions.

* WithholdingTheirName: One character refuses to share his name, telling Skipper that his real name is classified, but Skipper [[WhosOnFirst takes it literally]] and [[ComicallyMissingThePoint calls him Classified]] for the rest of the film.