Madagascar, fun for the whole family
By Nick Gligor
Issue date: 9/23/05 Section: Entertainment
Although its trailers and TV spots didn't do it much justice upon initial viewing, Madagascar turned out to be one of this summer's most entertaining family films. Set in New York, the movie revolves around the lives of the "residents" at the Central Park Zoo. Meet Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), an ambitious creature who longs to see the world outside of his artificial environment and spends his days dreaming of running in the wild. His friend, Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), on the other hand is perfectly content with being the overly pampered, highly regarded main attraction of the zoo.
When Marty escapes from the facility to go wander around Central Park, Alex enlists the help of their friends Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) to go find him. They're eventually cornered by animal control officers in the subway. Alex tries to reason with them but is instead pelted with tranquilizers (in which the viewers are treated to a pretty groovy hallucination sequence).
The animals are placed in crates on a ship en route to an African animal refuge, but accidentally fall overboard thanks to a sudden change of course by an incompliant group of penguins. They end up crashing onto an uncharted island inhabited by party loving lemurs, led by King Julien (the hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen).
This is where the movie's plot begins to run a little thin. Alex uncharacteristically starts getting the urge to attack the other animals, while the lemurs try to use this to their advantage in scaring away their enemies, the fossa. This whole bit grows tiresome after a while, but the movie stays smart nonetheless and is packed with some entertaining moments throughout.
The animation in the film is pretty basic (compared to the realism of "Shrek") yet stylish and cartoony. This is actually refreshing, considering the theaters are being saturated with streamlined CG-animated films that, much of the time, seem to look exactly the same. The jungle serves as a beautiful palette for some nice colorful and vibrant backgrounds. Most of the characters are quite lovable too, especially the neurotic Melman, the innocent Mort (Andy Richter) and the scene-stealing penguins, whose brief arrival into the arctic is absolutely hilarious.
The movie is also filled with some hilarious parodies and cultural references, borrowing bits and pieces from "National Geographic," "Planet of The Apes," "Chariots of Fire," "Saturday Night Fever," "Cast Away" and "American Beauty." Be especially on the lookout for a quick moment in which one of the lemurs holds up a book entitled "To Serve Lemur," yelling "It's a cookbook!" (Reminiscent of the lesser-known classic Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man.") Though the jokes fly over the heads of most kids, they keep older viewers and parents laughing and interested.
Much like "Shrek 2," Madagascar is written with adults in mind too and is fun for the whole family. Thanks to the charisma of the voice talents, the characters are distinct and energetic, never falling flat. If you love animated films that are packed with a lot of intelligent laughs, then you better "move it, move it" and check this film out. Madagascar comes to DVD Nov. 15.
When Marty escapes from the facility to go wander around Central Park, Alex enlists the help of their friends Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) to go find him. They're eventually cornered by animal control officers in the subway. Alex tries to reason with them but is instead pelted with tranquilizers (in which the viewers are treated to a pretty groovy hallucination sequence).
The animals are placed in crates on a ship en route to an African animal refuge, but accidentally fall overboard thanks to a sudden change of course by an incompliant group of penguins. They end up crashing onto an uncharted island inhabited by party loving lemurs, led by King Julien (the hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen).
This is where the movie's plot begins to run a little thin. Alex uncharacteristically starts getting the urge to attack the other animals, while the lemurs try to use this to their advantage in scaring away their enemies, the fossa. This whole bit grows tiresome after a while, but the movie stays smart nonetheless and is packed with some entertaining moments throughout.
The animation in the film is pretty basic (compared to the realism of "Shrek") yet stylish and cartoony. This is actually refreshing, considering the theaters are being saturated with streamlined CG-animated films that, much of the time, seem to look exactly the same. The jungle serves as a beautiful palette for some nice colorful and vibrant backgrounds. Most of the characters are quite lovable too, especially the neurotic Melman, the innocent Mort (Andy Richter) and the scene-stealing penguins, whose brief arrival into the arctic is absolutely hilarious.
The movie is also filled with some hilarious parodies and cultural references, borrowing bits and pieces from "National Geographic," "Planet of The Apes," "Chariots of Fire," "Saturday Night Fever," "Cast Away" and "American Beauty." Be especially on the lookout for a quick moment in which one of the lemurs holds up a book entitled "To Serve Lemur," yelling "It's a cookbook!" (Reminiscent of the lesser-known classic Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man.") Though the jokes fly over the heads of most kids, they keep older viewers and parents laughing and interested.
Much like "Shrek 2," Madagascar is written with adults in mind too and is fun for the whole family. Thanks to the charisma of the voice talents, the characters are distinct and energetic, never falling flat. If you love animated films that are packed with a lot of intelligent laughs, then you better "move it, move it" and check this film out. Madagascar comes to DVD Nov. 15.
