Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath

Writers:

Etan Cohen (written by)
Eric Darnell (written by)

Release Date:

7 November 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Still together. Still lost!

Plot:

The sequel to 2005's "Madagascar", in which New York Zoo animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo...

Plot Keywords:

Madagascar | Zoo | Giraffe | Sequel | Lion

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Ben Stiller	...	Alex (voice)
Chris Rock	...	Marty / Additional Zebras (voice)
David Schwimmer	...	Melman (voice)
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Gloria (voice)
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Julien (voice)
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Maurice (voice)
Andy Richter	...	Mort (voice)
Bernie Mac	...	Zuba (voice)
Alec Baldwin	...	Makunga (voice)
Sherri Shepherd	...	Mom (voice)
Will i Am	...	Moto Moto (voice) (as Will.I.Am)
Elisa Gabrielli	...	Nana (voice)
Tom McGrath	...	Skipper / Lemur #1 (voice)
Chris Miller	...	Kowalski (voice)
Christopher Knights	...	Private (voice)

Also Known As:

Madagascar 2 (USA) (working title)
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
Madagascar: The Crate Escape (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild crude humor.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS | Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #44773) | UK:PG | Finland:K-7 | Ireland:G | Singapore:G | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Australia:PG | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Portugal:M/4 (dubbed version) | Portugal:M/6 (original version) | Malaysia:U | Hong Kong:I | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | New Zealand:PG | Peru:PT | Brazil:Livre | Taiwan:GP | Netherlands:6 | Norway:7 | Mexico:AA

Company:

DreamWorks Animation

Trivia:

When the head penguin asks to kiss the head monkey the monkey replies, "Alright, but you're so darned ugly" is a direct reference to Planet of the Apes (1968). In one scene Taylor (Charlton Heston) says to Zira (Kim Hunter) I'd like to kiss you Zira. Zira replies, "Alright, but you're so damned ugly".

Goofs:

Plot holes: At the beginning of first Madagascar film, Marty celebrates his 10th birthday, which would put his birth year at late 1990s. However, in Madagascar 2 it is shown that Marty is already at the Central Park Zoo (as a cub) when Alex arrives, which happens in 1972.

Quotes:

Melman: Listen Mototo. You better treat this lady like a queen because you my friend, you found yourself the perfect women. If I was ever so lucky to find the perfect women I would give her flowers everyday and not just any flowers, okay? Her favorites are orchids, white, and breakfast in bed...

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Soundtrack:

Born Free

I like to watch it, watch it.

Just saw this at a discount movie theater ($2.50 a seat) and that's about what it's worth. Don't watch it expecting some major innovative work of art - it isn't, nor was it meant to be. It's purely fun fluff.

Without a doubt, the penguins steal the show. Their banter and antics are just downright hysterical. Granny on the other hand, needs to be retired. A cameo of her might have been funny, but she is overused to the point of irritation.

The ill-fated aircraft ride is a raucous ride, but after that the story splits into four or five (at least) concurrent sub-plots, so enough time isn't really given to each, and the pacing tends to jerk along in spurts. Basically it seems as if the filmmakers just strung together scenes of the funniest supporting characters from the original then tried to wrap it around a Lion King send-up.

All that said, I actually liked this one better than the original. Not every movie is intended to be a piece of ground-breaking cinematic artistry and this certainly isn't. But it IS just downright fun to watch. Now if Dreamworks would just give the penguins their OWN full-length picture...