“Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” is the uninspired sequel to “Madagascar.” That it made so much money its opening weekend only goes to show how starved people are for family entertainment. Children will love the cute animals and eye-popping colors, but adults will be bored with the plot. And any good movie must start with an engaging narrative. Unfortunately, “Madagascar 2” is a rehash of the first film. This time around, Alex the performing lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the acerbic zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the gloomy giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the happy hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) are hoping to return to New York. Their makeshift plane crashes after takeoff and they find themselves stranded in Africa. This detour reunites Alex with his father, Zuba (the late Bernie Mac), strains Melman’s hopes of winning Gloria’s affections and introduces Marty to others who look just like him. Eventually it’s up to the quartet to discover why the watering hole on the animal preserve has dried up.
The voice work of Chris Rock and especially Jada Pinkett Smith is outstanding. As with the first movie, the wisecracking penguins steal the show. It’s hard to generate much enthusiasm for “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.” Children will love it, but it doesn’t offer much for adults. 11/20/08
3 comments:
I thought that the Madagascar 2 story was weak and the cartoon was made strictly for kids who all like all of this stuff. Compared to all the other great "Toons" made this year, "Kung Fu Panda", "Wall E" and, most recently "Bolt", "Madagascar2" is way behind. If you haven't seen it don't bother, maybe a rental for the kids.
I probably shouldn't have gone to see this cartoon in the first place! The first Madagascar was funny, great for kids and the family and very original! Madagascar 2 wasn't funny, just an unimaginative rip off of the original and an obvious ploy to take advantage of the money to be made on a very poor sequel. Sorry Kids, no sale!!
Bolt is one of the cleverest animated films of the year and may be just good enough to win an award or two. I hope so for Disney's sake, they haven't been doing well in the past couple of years. I love the hamster character and the cat is very entertaining as she teaches Bolt how to be a dog. The movie is a lot of laughs and good family fare
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