Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett-Smith, David Schwimmer,
Sacha Baron Cohen, Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Andy Richter, Sherri Shepherd, Chris Miller | Written by Etan Cohen
UK certification PG | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 86 minutes | Directed by Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath
The first Madagascar, back in 2005, didn't exactly set the world on fire. It was a so-so computer animated flick with an OK voice cast and fairly ordinary animation.It didn't overly excite the critics, and while it did do pretty impressive business at the box office, it didn't really have "sequel potential" written all over it ... so, of course, they've made a sequel. What a surprise.
Madagascar 2 sees our Central Park Zoo-raised critters – lion Alex (Stiller), zebra Marty (Rock), giraffe Melman (Schwimmer) and hippo Gloria (Smith) – trying to return to the US after their Madagascan adventures. The cargo plane they find and fix up to fly back (mainly with the help of those smart-alec penguins, but more on them later) crash-lands in the African savannah, and here we go again with more fish-out-of-water funny-business. Alex finds his parents; Marty is shocked to find that all zebras look and sound alike (actualy, just like him); Gloria falls for a hunky (and chunky) man-hippo; and Melman gets jealous because he's in love with Gloria – and just how WOULD a hippo and a giraffe mate? It boggles the mind ...
As you'd expect, the humour here is aimed mainly at the kiddies. Much of the plot involving Alex and his folks seems cribbed from The Lion King, and most of the other characters take a back seat to Stiller's ultra-annoying dancing lion. Once again, the best characters – those sly, smarmy and ever-resourceful penguins – get all the best lines, but once again they are criminally underused. (But some good news: their getting their own Nickelodeon TV series! Thanks, Mr Katzenberg.) There are (just) enough decent gags to stop adults (who've been dragged along by their kids) from nodding off, but this is about as average as an average film can be, and DVD is just the place to catch it.
EXTRAS ** A filmmakers' commentary; the featurette It's a Family Affair: The Cast of Escape 2 Africa; a making-of featurette; an animation video jukebox; a trailer for the film and a trailer for the videogame.