Penguins of Madagascar and Horrible Bosses 2 hit theatres this weekend as Hollywood churns out a never-ending string of sequels and spin offs. While one movie is for the kiddies and the other for adults, both films are based on box office hits—and studios hope you'll reach back into your wallets to live the fun all over again.

The scene-stealing flightless birds from the popular Madagascar movies are back in the aptly titled Penguins of Madagascar. This time, Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private join forces with an elite undercover task force headed by a husky dog, voiced by Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch. The mission: saving the world from an evil octopus voiced by John Malkovich.

While the black and white birds provided some of the biggest laughs in earlier Madagascar movies, give them their own story and "it's a Looney Tunes throwback at best with inspired moments of the absurd," says CBC film critic Eli Glasner. "It doesn't have the scope of the previous films and is hurt by a predictable plot."

This composite shows Penguins of Madagascar and Horrible Bosses 2 as Hollywood's never-ending string of sequels and spin offs continues. (DreamWorks Animation, Warner Bros.)

For the grown ups, Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day are back in the revenge comedy reboot Horrible Bosses 2. Having fecklessly failed at murdering their bosses in the first​ film, characters Dale, Kurt and Nick have now graduated to kidnapping.

Christoph Waltz and Chris Pine star as the bad guys. Jennifer Aniston returns in her role as a sex-addicted dentist.

But like the movie about the plucky birds from Madagascar, Horrible Bosses 2, exhibits "similar flavours of stupid," says Glasner.

Both movies open in Canadian theatres on Friday.

Watch Eli Glasner's full review in the video above.