[T]he story places us directly after the events of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted with our four favorite penguins: Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), Rico (Conrad Vernon) and Private (Christopher Knights). From here, they depart from the circus and send themselves on a mission to celebrate Private’s birthday and buying Cheesy Dibbles, a discontinued product, from Fort Knox. However, Private begins to feel unimportant to the team. The real visual variety picks up when the penguins are suddenly kidnapped and brought to Venice where we meet Dave (John Malkovich), an octopus who disguises himself as Dr. Octavius Brine, a human alias. Dave was once an adored octopus at Central Park Zoo that soon turned sour after being booted from his popularity levels once the penguins arrived.