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Title: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents don't have much to worry about. Aside from a few animal butts here and there, this is generally a safe, non-threatening film. Recommended for ages 5 and up. |
After the success of the Shrek franchise Dreamworks wanted to make more hit franchises. “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” (ho ho) is the first non-Shrek franchise to receive a sequel, and I fear it won’t be the last. Already there is talk of a third film in the franchise, and if studio honcho Jeffery Katzenberg is to believed, “Kung Fu Panda” is also getting franchised. I remember as a kid being happy when there was only one installment of a great animated movie. Of course, the original “Madagascar,” which involved four New York zoo animals getting stranded on the now famous continent, was not a great movie. It wasn’t even a very competent movie, so I wasn’t totally opposed to a sequel that would flesh out the characters and the storyline.
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The movie opens with the animals all boarding a plane to return to New York. The passengers include Alex The Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty The Zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria The Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), Melvin The Giraffe (David Schwimmer), the lemur king Julian and his advisor (Sacha Baron Cohen and Cedric The Entertainer), and the penguins that stole the show the first time around. They crash land in Africa and, while the penguins and monkeys offer to fix the plane, explore their new surroundings. Marty finds a heard of zebras (all voiced by Rock) and has an identity crisis. Gloria is smitten by a new hippo that comes into her life. Melvin becomes a doctor and develops some romantic feelings for Gloria. The biggest storyline involves Alex discovering that Africa is his birthplace, and running into his parents (Sherri Shepherd and the late Bernie Mac).
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I have now officially spent a whole paragraph describing what the movie is about. I’ve never had to do that before. By now I’m normally taking time referencing certain quotes, favorite scenes, or noticeable musical cues. This movie is busy though. In an effort to be bigger and better, the writers have (unwisely) decided to break up the cast, give them their own storylines and problems, all the while bringing nothing of interest to the table. My hopes of the characters developing more were quickly dashed within fifteen minutes of this movie? Gloria is still a useless character. Marty simply went from having a mid-life crisis to an identity crisis. Marty, the germ-a-phobic giraffe from the first film, is not a doctor, curing sicknesses for other animals. Did the writers for this film even watch the first film?
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Alex gets the most screen time, and proves once again why he’s a terrible protagonist. It’s just Ben Stiller mugging for the mic, talking as much as he can so that…I don’t know, so he can claim he’s the star? What about the penguins? Well, they are in this movie less than the first one. You’d think after their great first impression the writers would capitalize on them more, but I guess not. There’s also some weird sub-plot about an old lady from the first film playing a bigger role as the bad guy in this film. Halfway through the film I realized what the problem was: This script has no story. Like “Ice Age 2” the movie is just a bunch of random, unfunny situations loosely tied together in an effort to make it look like there’s something important happening.
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There’s not, and nothing about the story works. The characters continue to be unlikable and uninteresting. With the exception of a few jokes nothing about this movie is funny (and when I say few I mean two…one of which involves the Dreamworks logo). Two weeks ago we got “High School Musical 3” and now we have “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.” All I can say are poor, poor kids. Do we hate them so much we must torture them with such drivel? This movie feels like a direct-to-video sequel, though I’m sure by saying that quote I’ve just insulted direct-to-video- sequels everywhere.
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