The penguins have never lacked confidence, even when their plans are falling apart in real time. That is especially true during the Venice chase in Penguins of Madagascar, where Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private escape Dave’s henchmen through the canals before their getaway spills onto the streets.
For nearly six minutes, the movie keeps finding new ways to undercut the team’s action-hero attitude. A gondola becomes a getaway vehicle, Skipper spends half the chase unable to see, and a rescue by the North Wind ends with Kowalski forgetting how to speak. These five visual gags give the sequence much of its energy.
1. Their getaway vehicle is a gondola
Most people get into a gondola for a peaceful ride through Venice. The penguins immediately turn one into something closer to a high-speed escape vehicle, complete with a musician providing exactly the sort of soundtrack Skipper thinks a chase requires.
The image gets funnier as the pursuit picks up speed. The gondola races out of the canals and even slides across the streets while Dave’s henchmen close in behind them. The penguins treat all of this like standard spy work, while the poor gondolier is simply along for the ride.
2. Skipper spends the chase completely blinded
One of Dave’s henchmen sprays ink directly into Skipper’s face, leaving the team leader with a purple mess covering his eyes. Skipper announces that he has “lost visuals” with the seriousness of a pilot reporting an equipment failure and immediately asks the others to guide him.
The joke keeps going because Skipper refuses to slow down. He continues issuing orders and reacting to everything around him despite having no idea what is actually happening. For a character who is usually convinced he has the situation under control, watching him confidently lead a chase he cannot see is a perfect reversal.
3. The “self-destruct” is really just a motorcycle
Still unable to see, Skipper becomes convinced their enemies have boarded the gondola and orders the team to initiate a self-destruct sequence. Even he seems impressed by the idea, admitting, “Frankly, I’m surprised we had a self-destruct sequence.”
What Skipper misses is the much sillier reality. Their dramatic explosion is caused by a motorcycle crashing straight into the chase, something everyone except him can see coming. His blindness lets him interpret a complete accident as another piece of sophisticated penguin technology.
4. Their last-minute plan gets solved by an owl
Eventually the penguins are cornered by Dave’s henchmen, so Skipper calls for battle stance and announces that it is time to spring their trap. Kowalski points out that they may actually be the ones who are trapped, leaving Skipper to fall back on his most reliable strategy: “Sometimes we just have to wing it.”
The timing could hardly be better. Almost immediately, Eva swoops down from above and carries one of the octopuses away. Skipper’s improvised plan has apparently succeeded thanks to a character he did not even know existed, giving “wing it” a wonderfully literal payoff.
5. Kowalski forgets everything the moment he sees Eva
The North Wind’s arrival gives the penguins their first look at a team that actually resembles the elite spy organization they imagine themselves to be. Eva makes an especially strong impression on Kowalski, who is clearly distracted from the moment he sees her.
That pays off during Skipper’s attempt to introduce his own crew. He proudly calls Kowalski the brains of the operation and asks him to “say something smart.” Kowalski can only stare at Eva in awe. Skipper quickly decides this must mean his teammate is “working on a whole other level,” while the audience can see exactly what has happened to him.
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