And there you have it: Madagascar 2!
It’s a cute little film, beautifully done in computerized imagery.
The different plot lines of each character make the whole thing a touch less seamless than it should be, and much of the humour is left in the hands of the background characters.
But it’s still crackalackin!
The sequel starts as prequel, showing a small part of Alex's early life, including his capture by hunters. Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, Escape 2 Africa then picks up where the original left off: with our heroes preparing to fly themselves back to New York.
Instead, they crash-land in Africa. In fact, they land in the very animal reserve where Alex the lion (Ben Stiller – who channels Zoolander quite nicely in the dance scenes) was born. His parents (Bernie Mac in one of his last performances and Sherri Sheperd) are thrilled to see him again, and his friends are pretty keen on their ancestral home too. Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock) runs with a herd for the first time, Melman (David Schwimmer) puts his many years of hypochondria to good use by becoming the giraffes’ witch doctor and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) is loving the fact that with hippos – fat = sexy!
But trouble is afoot! While the penguins and monkeys try to fix the plane, Alex’s family’s pride is overtaken by Makunga (Alec Baldwin), an alpha lion with Elvis-esque hair. Alex’s father blames him for the take-over and says he’s not a “real” lion, because he’d rather dance than fight.
Meanwhile, Melman’s love for Gloria weighs him down since she is smitten by a very sexy male hippo named Moto Moto (Will.i.am).
“It sounds so good, you say it twice!”
And Marty’s running with the herd? Not so much fun when your best friend can’t tell which one you are.
These plots do tend to overwhelm the story, and much of the light heartedness is gone.
Now that Alex and Marty aren’t fighting for screen time, Melman gets the chance to step up. Schwimmer’s earnest nature comes through for him here, and Melman’s bravery is highlighted when he not only relinquishes his love for Gloria when she seems to care for Moto Moto more, he then offers himself as a sacrifice to the volcano Gods when the river dries up.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Volcano Gods?? That’s all King Julien’s doing. The film owes practically all of its comedy to the lemurs, the penguins and the humans who become lost in Africa as well.
Kids won’t be able to stop giggling when King Julien comes on screen wearing a coconut bra singing “I’m a lady, I’m a lady!” And that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the lemur’s involvement in the story line.
The penguins are trying to fix the plane, and enlist the help of the refined monkeys because of their opposable thumbs. They, in turn, enlist more monkeys to get the job done, and this leads to some amusing union meetings which will be lost on the kids in the audience – but give all the liberals a quiet chuckle.
And of course – the humans. The sequel sees the return of Nana, who kicked Alex in his special parts at the train station in the first film. She’s on African safari, and when the penguins use her tour’s jeep – and the jeeps from other tours – for spare parts, she rallies the humans together to form a sort of Lord Of the Flies society.
The film ends happily as all family films ought to. Alex and his father reunite and defeat Makunga, Melman gets the girl and Marty gets singled out in the crowd because;
“They’re all white with black stripes. You’re black with whiteA sweet hunk of candy for the kids and it definitely has some belly laughs sprinkled in for the adults.
stripes!”
3.5/5
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