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Although Penguins of Madagascar is for the most part a family-friendlier comedy than the other films, some parts are frankly disturbing.
- Despite (or maybe even because of) the fact that he's so Laughably Evil, Dave can be extremely creepy at times:
- Perhaps the scariest line in the film after Kowalski calls him a monster:
Kowalski: You’re the monster!
Dave: YES! I'm the monster…! Everyone made that clear to me every day of my. Entire. Life. But now, let’s see how everyone likes you when you're the monster!- As if the line alone wasn't scary enough, he says it to a group of penguins that he has trapped in a cage, and at one point, he squishes his face through the cage so that his eyes bulge through the bars, which intimidates Skipper, Kowalski and Rico for a moment. If you've seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit, remember Judge Doom's real eyes? That's what it looks like. Either that or Betelgeuse with his scary bulging eyes in Re:Zero.
- Even his submarine is creepy. It's designed to look like a giant octopus with a big Slasher Smile.
- And then there's a scene in the climax where he smashes through the glass of his Medusa Ray in slow motion, with his tentacles flailing, and doing an Evil Laugh. The camera angle almost makes it look like he's lunging at you.
- Oh, and what about "Dr. Octavious Brine", his human counterpart? Something about him just isn't right...
- Heck, even in octopus form, he still falls into the Unintentional Uncanny Valley, because he's more anthropomorphized than the other octopuses. Those big, round eyes and that ghastly grin are pretty disturbing.
- It's especially creepy how he went about his plan; mutating innocent animals into hideous monstrosities so that the human public would exterminate them for that extra tint of cruel irony. And he very nearly succeeded as well. The thought of destroying a rabid or disfigured animal suddenly becomes even more unsettling.
- Just to fully establish that Dave has absolutely zero conscience, he remarks as the penguins are being captured ready for their likely demise, that he suddenly feels rather unfulfilled and empty. Thus he decides he must do the same thing to every single cute baby animal in existence. Thank god his plans stopped at Battery Park.
- Although it's somewhat played for laughs, it's also unsettling how Dave grabs the mermaid penguins with his tentacles and pulls them down the drain.
- Dave's theme song, "He is Dave"
, while an obvious parody of other evil themes, has genuinely foreboding lyrics that almost make you forget about that fact that the song's nature is meant to be satirical. All of Dave's villainous traits described? Unlike in the movie (where even then they can get pretty serious), not a single one is Played for Laughs.
- The very idea of the mutated penguins. The modellers and animators must have had a field day doing the animation and designs for them. They look weird at first, but nothing too serious, but then they act crazy, similar to a lyssavirus infection (minus the rage). Then it hits you. They've also lost all sense of consciousness, acting crazy. It seems like that The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body, but thankfully with Private's presence: Rico, Kowalski and Skipper are the aversions when they get their senses back.
- Mutated Skipper swallows an innocent cat whole! The cat is comically spat back out later, but you could be forgiven for thinking it was dead.
- The leopard seals. They are perhaps the only animals in the movie without any anthropomorphic qualities, instead portrayed as cold-blooded monsters. What were the designers thinking when they gave the leopard seals Black Eyes of Crazy?!
- The fact that they are completely willing to eat 4 baby penguins, including one that hasn't even hatched yet!
- The adult penguins' casual willingness to let Private's egg roll off a cliff to its doom.
