Overall Rating: ***
Madagascar @ IMDB
Madagascar @ Amazon
Synopsis:
When four animal friends bust out the zoo for a night on the town, things get wildly out of control. Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer), and Gloria (Jada Pinket Smith) quickly find themselves in crates on the way to a wildlife preserve. En route, their crates get knocked overboard and they wash up on the shores of Madagascar. Now these four pampered zoo animals must adjust to life in wild….
Review:
I must say I was a bit dissappointed with Madagascar. I had high hopes for this movie, but it seemed to fall in line with the last few mediocre animated films. It seems that Dreamworks Animation is having difficulties finding success after Shrek and Shrek 2 (which I’m watching while I write this). This movie left something to be desired. I was continuously waiting for that gut busting moment, but it never came.
First of all, the voice talent was a bit lacking. Stiller and Smith were ok, but Rock and Schwimmer were horrible. The voices just didn’t work with the characters for some reason. I can’t stand Chris Rock’s voice to begin with. Put it behind a wierd looking zebra and you have a problem. Schwimmer’s voice is, as someone else put it, a bit distracting. His vocalization of Melman, the hypochondriac giraffe, is a bit annoying. I keep seeing Ross not Melman. It just doesn’t seem to work.
The other thing is that the peripheral characters tend to be more entertaining than the main characters. I loved the squad of commando penguins. They are the true source of amusement in this movie. Their attempts to get to Antarctica are hilarious. What’s even better is what happens when they get there. The tribe of lemurs on the island are also pretty funny. Though they’re cute, they don’t compare to the penguins.
If you get the DVD, you’ll be lucky and get a bonus: A Christmas Caper featuring the penguin squad. I have to say that I loved this eleven minute short and I enjoyed it more than the whole movie. This one is definitely worth the rental, but make sure you get the bonus cartoon. It makes all the difference.