Movie Review:

Madagascar

There was Shrek and Shark Tale, now, the Dreamworks PDI folks take us to the zoo and beyond.

To the strains of “Born Free” Marty the zebra (Chris Rock’s voice) dreams of running in the wild and even swinging through the trees like Tarzan. He wakes up to find that he still lives in New York City’s Central Park Zoo. Even though pampered and well-treated, the zebra, at age 10, is having a mid-life crisis. He wants to see what’s out there! The star of the zoo and Marty’s best bud is Alex (voiced by Ben Stiller), a lion who has no problem with being in captivity. Hey…free steaks! The crowds are impressed and, when they all leave, Alex and Marty hang with friends Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and hypochondriac giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer).

While the zoo’s gangster-talking penguins prepare to bust out by digging to Antarctica, Marty escapes, hoping to visit the local wilds.. Connecticut. Worried about their pal, the zoo friends escape to look for him. They are all captured, crated up and put on a ship for Africa! Of course, with penguin intervention (they still wanna go to Antarctica) the gang ends up going overboard and washing up on the shores of Madagascar where they are greeted by a civilization of small, wacky lemurs who hope these “New York Giants” can protect them from the island predators, the dreaded Foosa. Will our city-bred guys be survivors, will they go wild?

Although the lead characters are winning, the biggest laughs in this film come from the supporting animals; the penguins, lemurs and some incidental monkeys who read posh literature but still throw poop (you don’t see them doing that).

The messages in Madagascar seem to be: different species (races) can be great friends and that you can adapt and survive. We have the usual mix of jokes for kids and others for adults. The movie gets funnier when the gang gets to Madagascar and the lemurs join the party. Very cute stuff… when a penguin curses, he says ‘oh Hoover Dam’. On Madagascar, Alex talks to a basketball named Spaulding (take that Tom Hanks and your soccer ball pal Wilson!). There are send-ups of Planet of the Apes, Saturday Night Fever and even a classic "Twilight Zone” episode “To Serve Man”.

Although the plot is thinner than that for Shrek or Shark Tale and there is no iconic villain to beat, Madagascar is harmless fun and says a lot about friendship and getting out there and living life rather than staying home and taking the easy path. Not a cartoon classic but worth an afternoon at the movies. Take your kid sis or bro.

This movie is rated PG

Official Movie Web Site - Madagascar

Pictures courtesy of and copyright Dreamworks SKG, 2005