Madagascar (2005)

Spoiled by their upbringing with no idea what wild life is really like, four animals from New York Central Zoo escape, unwittingly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar, among a bunch of merry lemurs

Directors:

Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath

Writers:

Mark Burton, Billy Frolick,

Stars:

Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer

4 wins & 24 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Stiller	...	Alex (voice)
Chris Rock	...	Marty (voice)
David Schwimmer	...	Melman (voice)
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Gloria (voice)
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Julien (voice)
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Maurice (voice)
Andy Richter	...	Mort (voice)
Tom McGrath	...	Skipper / Fossa / Panicky Man on Subway (voice)
Christopher Knights	...	Private (voice)
Chris Miller	...	Kowalski (voice)
Conrad Vernon	...	Mason (voice)
Eric Darnell	...	Zoo Announcer / Lemur #1 / Fossa / Subway Car Announcer (voice)
David Cowgill	...	Police Horse (voice)
Stephen Apostolina	...	Police Officer (voice) (as Steve Apostolina)
Elisa Gabrielli	...	Old Lady (voice)

Storyline

At New York's Central Park Zoo, a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a hippo are best friends and stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing from their cage, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited ... on a ship en route to Africa. When their vessel is hijacked, however, the friends, who have all been raised in captivity, learn first-hand what life can be like in the wild.

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Plot Keywords:

Zoo | Lemur | Giraffe | Zebra | Madagascar | 

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Taglines:

Black, White and out Of Sight

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language, crude humor and some thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks [us] UIP [de]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Portuguese Spanish German French

Release Date:

27 May 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Madagaskar

Filming Locations:

Glendale, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$436,612 (Norway) (16 September 2005)

Gross:

$193,136,719 (USA) (7 October 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks SKG, Pacific Data Images (PDI), DreamWorks Animation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Harry Gregson-Williams was originally attached as the film's composer, but was replaced by Hans Zimmer. A few weeks earlier, the opposite had occurred for another film: Gregson-Williams replaced Zimmer for the scoring duties of Kingdom of Heaven.

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Goofs

The interior size of Alex's crate varies from when they are stacked on the ship to when he is on the ocean sleeping.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Alex the Lion: Surprise!
Marty the Zebra: Aaahhh! Alex! Do not interrupt me when I'm daydreaming. When a zebra's in the zone, leave him alone.

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Crazy Credits

You can see Gloria as the Statue of Liberty at the end of all credits, performing a Tinkerbell-esque magic wand tap to end the movie.

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Connections

Spoofs Cast Away (2000)
Volleyball named "Spaulding" with handprint face

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Soundtracks

"Holiday For Strings"
Written by David Rose
Performed by The Voices of Walter Schumann
Courtesy of Capitol Records
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

So Much Could Have Happened on This Island...

Okay. Here we go. Before watching this film, if you read what it is going to be about, you will find something that could be promising. Four animals that are close friends in a zoo end up being stranded in the wild where one of them--the lion--finds out that it is his nature to hunt down the other three. Now that makes a good story! But the thing is that the story barely even touched on that. It seemed to go nowhere and throughout the time that I watched this, I felt as if it were still beginning and we were being introduced to the characters, including the ones that later come into play. I didn't feel as if the peak of the plot was ever reached because I started thinking: What is the plot? Where is this movie trying to go? Nothing really happens. This film is like a large introduction that never really goes anywhere. It barely touches the middle of the story when it suddenly ends. A big hole was certainly there when the credits came up. A lot could have been done with this story. We also never really connect with any of the characters. They are just there. The voices are done well and they really match with the characters, but that's mostly it. There is not a lot of character development. But the good news is that many kids will enjoy this. There is plenty of light humor, especially with the penguins who steal the show most of the time. There are cute parts and the visuals are all right. This is no Shrek and it is a little below Shark Tale in my opinion. Dreamworks could have had a much better film. So much more could have happened on this island, but alas we were only introduced to it and nothing else. No, this movie is not horribly bad, but it is not very good either. I give it an average at best. It is watchable but that is it for me. The story was handled too weakly. This movie really had potential. But hey, at least the kids most likely will enjoy it =)

5.8/10 Stars