The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper is a 2005 American animated short film produced by DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. Directed by animation veteran Gary Trousdale, produced by Teresa Cheng, and written by Michael Lachance, it stars the voice cast of Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, John DiMaggio, Elisa Gabrielli, and Bill Fagerbakke. Set before the events of the first Madagascar, the 12-minute Madagascar spin-off features the adventures of four penguins, sometimes known as the Madagascar Penguins, who live in the Central Park Zoo and are trained as spies. When Private is captured by Nana by wanting to find a present for Ted during his absence, the other three penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, must rescue Private from Nana's apartment, while making last-minute preparations for Christmas at the Central Park Zoo. The music in the short film is scored by James Dooley.

The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper premiered in theaters on October 7, 2005, along with the stop-motion film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and then became a bonus feature on the Madagascar DVD shortly afterwards on November 15.

Plot
On Christmas Eve, at Central Park Zoo in New York City, the youngest penguin on the team, Private, is looking around the zoo using the periscope which is decorated as a snowman. While most of the animals seem happy, a polar bear named Ted is all alone. Private therefore decides that a present would cheer up the polar bear, though his fellow penguins don't share the same sentiment. Determined to find Ted's present, Private slips out of the zoo. While roaming the streets of Manhattan, he is captured by Nana who mistakes him for a chew toy for her vicious dog, Mr. Chew. The other three penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, set out to rescue Private from Nana's apartment when they discover Private's absence (only when they were going over everything before eating). They escalate into chaos against Mr. Chew, all-the-while, not noticed by Nana, who is occupied watching a football game. When they are done, they stuff Mr. Chew into a stocking. Before leaving, Skipper let Rico detonate the door with a stick of dynamite (which Rico had repeatedly attempted to use prior), finally attracting Nana's attention who ends up punishing Mr. Chew with a big time-out, thinking what the penguins did to her apartment was Mr. Chew's doing.

Returning to the Central Park Zoo, they invite Ted to their home, but Ted already had invited several other guests, resulting in a massive sing-a-long to a parody of Jingle Bells.

Voice cast

 * Tom McGrath as Skipper
 * Chris Miller as Kowalski
 * Christopher Knights as Private
 * John DiMaggio as Rico
 * Elisa Gabrielli as Nana (credited as Old Lady)
 * Bill Fagerbakke as Ted the polar bear
 * Sean Bishop as the Doorman/TV Announcer
 * Frank Welker as Mr. Chew

Additional voices include Hope Levy, Rif Hutton, Richard Miro, Mitch Carter, Lynnanne Zager

Soundtrack
The original music for the short was composed by James Dooley. According to Dooley, he was asked to score because he "had written all the music for the penguins in the feature length, Madagascar."

Home media
The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper was released on later DVD editions of Madagascar, Shrek, and Shrek 2, all of which were released on November 15, 2005. It was released on Blu-ray on September 23, 2008, as a bonus feature attached to Madagascar.