Movie Review: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

So much better than the first film it is shocking

I will always remain baffled at how 2005's Madagascar was loved by so many and ended up raking in over $193 million at the box-office. In my eyes the film was hardly worth the celluloid it was shown on. Taking that into consideration I walked into the screening of Madagascar Escape 2 Africa with trepidation and concern I was in for another 90 minutes of boredom. To my surprise my experience couldn't have been much better. While this sequel to a lame duck animated flick that wildly over exceeded its quality isn't the best animated film I have seen this year, it is far from the worst and holds a lot of laughs.

The primary problem with the first Madagascar was that the story essentially went nowhere. The four main characters – Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) – escaped from New York, were supposed to be shipped to Africa and ended up in Madagascar. That was all the first movie had to offer, but the second film takes a similar premise as the zoo animals try to figure out a way to get back to New York only to end up in Africa, but instead of that being the story they add some back-story to each character and turn it into something of a coming home tale and it really, really works well.

The wily penguins are back and up to their similar antics, which became the only high point in the first film, but thanks to the quality of this second go around their comedic moments don't serve as a saving grace as much as they have become part of the fabric of the film. The story actually kicks off as the penguins have created a makeshift airplane that will slingshot them into the air as something of a primitive jump start. It gives the penguins and King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), the egotistical and equally brainless lemur, a chance to once again navigate and exercise their elitism. Unfortunately, for them, they end up crash landing in Africa and having to learn how to live life with the natives.

I am surprised this film is such a drastic improvement over the original considering everyone from the first flick is back including directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath and the primary cast. There are a couple of additions including Alec Baldwin as the devious lion Makunga and the late Bernie Mac as Alex the lion's father Zuba, but for the most part it's all the same. We sit back and watch as Alex joins the family he thought he once lost, Marty joins a not-so-unique heard of zebra, Melman finds out that all giraffes are paranoid and Gloria meets the Rico Suave of hippos named Moto Moto (will.i.am) and learns there is more to being a hippo than how plump you are. Basically they all have their realities to come to grips with while Alex's attempts to impress his father become the number one plot thread holding it all together.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa's story is nothing new when it comes to quality animated films, but it is enjoyable. WALL•E and Kung Fu Panda remain the two best animated films of 2008 to this point (yes I have seen Waltz with Bashir), but parents won't mind sitting through this one at all. It has all the key moments that make for a quality animated feature and then some.