Madagascar

By Coralie Heiler

Rated: PG
Starring: Andy Richter, Cedric the Entertainer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Chris Knights, Tom McGrath
Directed by: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon

“All Hail the New York Giants!”
King of the Lemurs

DreamWorks’ Madagascar is a film the whole family is bound to enjoy. The masterminds behind Shrek and Shark Tale now breathe life in the craziest bunch of computer-animated animals to ever hit the local Cineplex. This is a ‘feel-good’ flick that focuses on zoo animals, most particularly on a zany zebra named Marty (voiced by Chris Rock), who longs to return to the wild. Life in the Central Park Zoo where he lives has become tedious and boring, and our striped friend longs for a bit of adventure. One day, upon hearing the escape plan of four highly mischievous, scene-steeling penguins, Marty decides to fly the coop, forcing three of his closest zoo mates (a lion, a giraffe and a hippo) to follow him in order to bring him back home.

Of course, things do not go quite as planned and Marty soon finds out that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the chain-link fence. While heading for freedom, our heroes are captured and shipped to Kenya. At least that is the plan until penguins hijack the cargo ship in which they are all being held. Mayhem ensues when they are thrown overboard and end up stranded on

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Moviegoer Deardra Liddle had this to say:

This movie was a good laugh and kept my attention. The imbedded comedy between these four characters aims for the adults while the silly antics make both adults and children laugh together. The makers of Shrek and Shark Tale have done it again. The addition of the penguins and the lemurs will have you laughing and dancing in your seats. Go and see it! You’ll have a great time.

the shores of Madagascar. At first, everyone thinks that they have landed in some sort of paradise; however, after meeting up with some of the local fauna, they soon realize that life in New York is not as bad as they thought and that not everybody is “born to be wild”.

Having been cared for by humans their entire life, the foursome knows nothing about survival in the wild. Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), who misses his steaks and his New York Times, also discovers that he is genetically predisposed to eat his three best friends: Gloria (a Hippo, voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith), Melman (a nervous Giraffe, voiced by David Schwimmer) and Marty. Thankfully, friendship prevails over natural instincts and everyone survives in the end.

I found Madagascar to be a fast paced and generally entertaining movie, although the constant arguments between Alex and Marty tend to become tiresome and redundant after a while. Thankfully, there is plenty of animated penguin action to keep us interested. The tuxedo-clad foursome’s unique blend of silliness, along with their sidesplitting comedic antics ‘a la Three Stooges,’ allows these little guys to steel the show at every turn.

Like its predecessor, Shrek, Madagascar is filled with so many inside jokes that you have to keep your eyes peeled and your ears open at all times in order not to miss any of the hidden cues and quotes from various other movies.

I give Madagascar three stars out of five for good, solid family entertainment. To quote the king of the Lemurs, “You have to move it, move it,” and go see Madagascar at a theatre near you. Bring the whole family along, but leave the penguins behind if you want to make it back home safely.