Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath

Writers:

Etan Cohen (written by)
Eric Darnell (written by)

Release Date:

7 November 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Still together. Still lost!

Plot:

The sequel to 2005's "Madagascar", in which New York Zoo animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo...

Plot Keywords:

Madagascar | Zoo | Giraffe | Sequel | Lion

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Ben Stiller	...	Alex (voice)
Chris Rock	...	Marty / Additional Zebras (voice)
David Schwimmer	...	Melman (voice)
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Gloria (voice)
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Julien (voice)
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Maurice (voice)
Andy Richter	...	Mort (voice)
Bernie Mac	...	Zuba (voice)
Alec Baldwin	...	Makunga (voice)
Sherri Shepherd	...	Mom (voice)
Will i Am	...	Moto Moto (voice) (as Will.I.Am)
Elisa Gabrielli	...	Nana (voice)
Tom McGrath	...	Skipper / Lemur #1 (voice)
Chris Miller	...	Kowalski (voice)
Christopher Knights	...	Private (voice)

Also Known As:

Madagascar 2 (USA) (working title)
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
Madagascar: The Crate Escape (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild crude humor.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS | Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #44773) | UK:PG | Finland:K-7 | Ireland:G | Singapore:G | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Australia:PG | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Portugal:M/4 (dubbed version) | Portugal:M/6 (original version) | Malaysia:U | Hong Kong:I | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | New Zealand:PG | Peru:PT | Brazil:Livre | Taiwan:GP | Netherlands:6 | Norway:7 | Mexico:AA

Company:

DreamWorks Animation

Trivia:

When the head penguin asks to kiss the head monkey the monkey replies, "Alright, but you're so darned ugly" is a direct reference to Planet of the Apes (1968). In one scene Taylor (Charlton Heston) says to Zira (Kim Hunter) I'd like to kiss you Zira. Zira replies, "Alright, but you're so damned ugly".

Goofs:

Plot holes: At the beginning of first Madagascar film, Marty celebrates his 10th birthday, which would put his birth year at late 1990s. However, in Madagascar 2 it is shown that Marty is already at the Central Park Zoo (as a cub) when Alex arrives, which happens in 1972.

Quotes:

Melman: Listen Mototo. You better treat this lady like a queen because you my friend, you found yourself the perfect women. If I was ever so lucky to find the perfect women I would give her flowers everyday and not just any flowers, okay? Her favorites are orchids, white, and breakfast in bed...

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Soundtrack:

Born Free

I wanna see a spin off with the penguins!

I am a fan of the first Madagascar film, I know there are a lot of people who dissed it, but I thought it was cute. So when I saw the trailer for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, I was excited. I saw it on Friday and I absolutely enjoyed this fun family film. I think this even had a more coherent plot as well, plus how could you not love the penguins? They are absolutely hilarious and need their own movie, maybe a Full Metal Jacket with penguins! Anyways, I loved the characters so much, they're back and better than ever. They even ended up giving the little old lady from the first Madagascar who fought Alex the Lion, she has a bigger role and was so awesome to watch and listen too. I think the jokes were even funnier than the first Madagascar, my favorite scene without a doubt was the plane sequence in the beginning. But the whole story was just a blast to watch.

Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman are still looking to go back to Africa, everything seems to be a good and they start to fly back with the penguins as well as Julien. But the plane runs out of fuel and crashes, they are still in Africa, but bump into an animal pack where Alex finds his long lost parents, Marty finds out that all zebras are like him(imagine being surrounded by 1,000 Chris Rocks*shudder*), Gloria has a hunky hippo who is crushing on her, and Melman becomes the giraffe witch doctor of his group. Alex is about to be initiated into his pride, but one lion does not want him part of the group and will do anything to become leader.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is definitely worth your watch, it's not the animated film of the year, but it was a lot of fun to watch. It kind of reminded me of The Lion King a little bit, it has a similar story. It's a great family film and is fun for both the kids and the adults as well. Although I still think it's funny that Alex is voiced by Ben Stiller and his dad is voiced by Bernie Mac, but it's all good, who knows, maybe Alex's dad just had a little more soul in him. I would recommend this film, it was a lot of fun to watch and I suggest we write in a script for those penguins! They're a blast to watch on screen.

7/10