MADAGASCAR

Put it on the shelf behind Ice Age and Shrek 2 and in front of Shark Tale (actually, waaay in front of Shark Tale) if you're the "sort by quality" type.

If you're the "sort by needlessly having celebrities provide the voices, solely for marketing purposes" type put it behind Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Shark Tale.

But any way you sort it, there's really never been anything like Madagascar. Its odd plot, completely quirky characters, and lively presentation make for a mostly family-friendly outing. I say "mostly" because there's a lot of unnecessary potty humor and rump jokes in the film. Oddly, it's never as passively offensive as it was in Robots, which was resorting to it out of creative desperation. No, there's creativity abounding in Madagascar, which makes the "butt" jokes all the more a pity, because they could have been deleted without much loss. An aside, why worry so much about "butt" jokes? Because a parent doesn't want to get a call from a teacher, or a day-care person, or a nun, or a principal, relaying to them that their child has been bandying about those words about with abandon. Maybe they try to keep rump humor out of their home, just for propriety's sake, just because they like their kids NOT to be the kid that does that. Suddenly, it's as if you've not only allowed your kid to stick their mouth on the drinking fountain spigot, you've encouraged it. Heck, you paid for it. You've become an accomplice in their coarsening by trusting the filmmakers, if even it's a very little bit.

But otherwise, Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell do earn, if not our trust, then our polite applause.

Madagascar starts in the New York zoo with Alex the lion (the voice of Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David "Ah, to heck with it, I'll give in to the typecasting" Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith). Marty dreams of escaping to the wild and running free but his friends are quite happy in their posh accommodations. Alex is a star attraction and is fed steak every day. Melman, who is a hypochondriac, can be close to his medication and Gloria can luxuriate in her comfy surroundings.

When Marty takes a quick jaunt to see the rest of New York and his friends try to bring him back, they spur a public outcry from those who mistakenly believe that the animals have made a valiant effort to escape their confines. All four of them are crated and shipped back to the wild. Also along for the ride are a colony of penguins who happen to be psychotic. They take over the cargo ship and head for Antartica (see, told you it was bizarre); their sudden change of direction sends the crates overboard into the ocean. The four friends find themselves on the island of Madagascar and completely unable to cope with the brutal nature of, well, nature.

Alex, who is used to three square meals of T-bones a day, finds his mane is frizzing out and he's experiencing urges, particularly concerning his friend Marty. Every time he looks at Marty he sees a big talking steak. As his carnivorous instincts take over the other three herbivores realize that their biggest problem used to be their best friend.

And then there's the lemur colony. An utter, odd hoot from the onset, the lemurs are led by King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen, born to do voice work). King Julien is a complete loon and he's barely kept in line by Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer). They want to enlist the aid of Alex to keep the indigenous dog population from eating them, unaware that Alex is having some of the exact same thoughts.

Madagascar isn't going to inspire future generations but it does inspire a lot of laughter; that appears to be in short supply at the movies right now.

Review by: Keith Simanton

Schedule

News