Movie Review

Madagascar

Madagascar does not take place in a land far, far a way, or in a robot city, or in an enchanted underwater city. In fact, it begins just forty-five minutes from where I live, New York City. Again, I have to look in amazement at the attention to detail, especially in the scenes taking place in Times Square and Grand Central Station. CGI animation has given scenery, as well as characters, a brand new life full of richer colors, and in movies like Madagascar it only heightens the level of enjoyment. This is not like this year?s earlier animated flick "Robots.? It doesn't waste time on a cheesy message or make us sit through irritating fart jokes or over the top physical comedy bits with no real punch line. It may not be the most ambitious of films, but it is funny.

The movie begins in Central Park Zoo where Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Girraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) prepare for a day of performing tricks and posing for pictures. These four are pampered stage animals who have never spent a day out in the wild. Alex, the biggest prima donna of the four, is perfectly content with the attention he receives as well as the many steaks he is tossed, as is Gloria with her tank. And Melman is a hypochondriac who couldn't spend a day away from his medications. Only Marty is more adventurous. On the day of his tenth birthday, he escapes from the zoo hoping to find open spaces in Connecticut. Alex, Melman, and Gloria try to retrieve him but instead the four are crated up and in a freak accident, end up shipwrecked on the island of Madagascar.

There they find a group of partying lemurs led by King Julian (a hilarious Sascha Baron Cohen). The lemurs have built an island paradise but are constantly being bothered by wild hyenas, which leads Julian to devise a plan in which his four new friends become the lemur protectors. Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria, on the other hand, are at first completely terrified of their new surroundings but learn to get in touch with their animal roots, with life changing consequences for Alex in particular.

The story is a low-concept fish out of water tale. About the only thing that even comes close to a serious plot is Alex's sudden transformation from friendly zoo animal to wild king of the jungle, but the movie is more concerned with just being a silly summer diversion than it is with being soul-searching. The comedy doesn't go for the regular crude and irreverent jokes that have populated much of the animated films in the past, but is rather slapstick and character oriented type of humor. One of the best comic set pieces the writers come up with is Alex's love of steaks, a running gag that eventually even leads to an American Beauty-esque sequence. The movie also makes hilarious nods to Cast Away and Planet of the Apes. Not all of the gags in Madagascar are as memorable but they are very well assembled acts of physical comedy that should have parents and kids in stitches. And if physical comedy isn't your cup of tea, the scheming penguins offer some really good laughs as well.

The voice cast is another draw. Though I'm not a fan of big stars doing voiceover work, it's fun to hear Ben Stiller and Chris Rock working together. It helps that Marty looks a lot like Rock and Alex allows for Stiller to give his most comically unhinged performance since Zoolander. And David Schwimmer is more than well cast as the neurotic Melman. The only person who doesn't fare as well is Jada Pinkett Smith, who isn't given much to do. Still, this is a funny family film that doesn't try to be anything more. It will never live up to its predecessor, Shrek, but it will give people a good time and, especially during this year, that is a novel aspect worth highlighting and recommending.

Craig's Grade: B

A	10.9%
B	41.8%
C	31.8%
D	15.3%
F	0.3%