Post by BIGFANBOY on Nov 7, 2008 2:34:58 GMT -5
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA
Review by Gary Dean Murray
One of the surprises from a few seasons back was Dreamworks Madagascar, a cute little tale about a quartet of NYC Zoo animals that are taken from their captive home to a new life half a world away. It was well received and made a bunch of money for the studio, so a sequel was definitely in the cards.
This new film starts years ago with a young lion being trained by his father in the ways of Savanna survival. But the lion cub is much more interested in being a ham and not learning endurance techniques. As dad is challenged for the king of the pride, the young lion goes off the reservation and is captured by some poachers. His crate falls off the truck and he drifts across the ocean to NYC. Once found, he is placed in the Zoo and quickly becomes Alex (Ben Stiller), the king of NYC.
We now jump back to where the last film ended. Our penguins have rescued a plane and have gotten it up to a running flight status. Alex, Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) are all together trying to get back to their Zoo home from what they feel is an overlong vacation. But, in an explosion of comedic references, they crash not in New York City but on a very familiar Savanna. Alex is not sure why but he feels close to this land.
Eventually the four meet various others of their species and these four each have an adventure. Marty finds a zebra group and becomes one of the collective. Melman discovers his obsessive belief in being sick makes him a perfect Savanna doctor. Gloria just wants to find some good loving. But the main story is of Alex and his discovering of his place in the pride and the reconnection with his parents. It is the difference between Alex and his father about what makes a leader is truly the main story behind Madagascar 2. All four stories eventually converge as Alex has to save all the animals from a water shortage.
This is a beautiful film to behold, full of vibrant colors and stunning computer shots. The visuals of the film are almost lost by all the comedy, which is almost a shame. This digital canvas is painted with such a stunning array of hues that mere words pale to find their mark. It is a feast for the eyes. All of the principles do workman jobs of delivery, spewing the comic lines with accuracy expected from comic performers. But the true comic genius of this little film is in the secondary characters. Our quartet of penguins once again steals every scene they are in, making the most of the little amount they are put into this film. Their building of a new plane could have made it’s own movie. Actually, the penguins are overdue for their own feature film. And the monkeys from the last flick are back but again in a very abbreviated role.
The creative forces behind the last Madagascar, Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, are back for another go around. This time they almost go overkill in the references. Within a few minutes, we get Indiana Jones, Twilight Zone, cargo cults and West Side Story. But some of the biggest references are of The Lion King. While the desired effect was to be manic, the final result is almost of the ‘throw it on the wall and see what sticks’ school of comedic overload. It almost feels like a little bit less would have worked a little bit more.
While not great filmmaking, Madagascar 2 is just about everything one would expect from a children’s kid sequel. It has loads of laughs and some great characters the little ones will love. And since it is very hard to make a decent animation sequel, this one does deserve a look.
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