Madagascar

DVD Release Date: June 2006

Genre: Animation/Family/Comedy

Classification: U

Run Time: 86 minutes

Production Team: DreamWorks

Actors: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett, David Schwimmer, Sash Baron Cohen

RRP: £14.99 Amazon Price: £6.97 - I bought mine at WHSmith as part of 4 for £20 deal

>>>What's the Film about<<<

Marty, a zebra at Central Park Zoo decides to see what lies outside the park gates one night after growing bored by the same routine day in and day out. When Marty's friends, Melman the Giraffe, Alex the Lion and Gloria the Hippo discover their friend missing they agree to break out to find him before any more harm can come to their friend. They are all reunited and captured again but the zoo decides they can no longer house the animals. It is during their journey by sea when they find themselves marooned on an African jungle island that their adventure really begins. Having previously only known captivity, the four friends are now faced with coping with life in the wild.

Will they adapt to their natural habitat? Will they make it back to their beloved Central Park? Will the natives they meet become new friends or a force to be reckoned with

>>>Who are DreamWorks<<<

DreamWorks is the animation production and distribution powerhouse behind a string of box office hits including its biggest success the Shrek series as well as computer games and television programmes.

Originally,

the project of Steven Spielberg, Jeff Katzenberg and David Geffen in 1994, DreamWorks was sold to Viacom at the end of 2005. DreamWorks is now the strong competitor of Pixar the before undisputed champion of all things animated.>>>Acting/Voice-overs<<<

The first thing I noticed about this film was the overly familiar voice of Ben Stiller as Alex the lion. Unfortunately, along with the familiar voice came the neediness that I often find with Stiller. In all his performances he appears desperate to be the funniest. Luckily, Stiller's character Alex the lion and king of Central Park Zoo is also a bit needy for attention so he managers to pull it off - just.

Chris Rock's voice, also familiar but not quite as irksome as Stiller's played Marty with the enthusiasm of a toddler an his fast-talking humour came across much better and he shone as the films' star. The hypochondriac giraffe played by David Schwimmer of Friends was one of my favourite characters. Again, Schwimmer is one of those actors that is easily recognizable simply by voice but his weary, overly cautious almost geeky nature as we saw in friends was perfectly suited to the part of Melman. Gloria (Mrs. Will Smith), the most normal of the lot was likeable but for the most part relatively unnecessary. As is frequently the case in Stiller films, the woman was more of a prop for the other guys to bounce off of and not necessarily meant to shine on her own.

I mentioned Melman was one of my favourite characters but my ultimate and surprising favourite was Julien the King Lemur played superbly by Sasha Baron Cohen. I am not a big fan of Cohen as a rule, but found his eccentric style and over the top campness truly brought this film to life. I would have loved to have seen more of his character. The three escaped Penguins were also a great source of humour and general entertainment as they turned every situation into an SAS style operation.

>>>Story/Script<<<

I really liked the story. It was a wonderful idea of reversing the usual born wild then put into captivity theme. The possibilities to explore so many absurd places and meet equally absurd characters along the way were endless. The great thing about animated films is that to a certain extent, consistency and certainly reality is not overly important.

The script is funny although occasionally it feels a bit contrived and much of the humour (references to films like American Beauty, Planet of the Apes and Cast Away) will pass over the children's heads. I appreciate parents fork over the money to see these films, but it is still the kids they should be aimed at.

It felt that the film never really took off in the way it should have considering the action, varied scene changes, abundance of characters and perhaps that business is in fact the reason it never really succeeded to be a film at the top of his game. With a better script that concentrated on the story first and the gags later I think this could have been a fantastic film.

>>>Animation<<<

DreamWorks can't really be faulted as they are at the top of their industry and have consistently proven themselves as animators to be reckoned with. Madagascar is in no way an exception to this rule. With every detail of Central Park and New York City considered and the bright vibrant colours of the jungle island in Africa, the scene is beautifully set for viewers.

What impressed me the most, as it always does is the attention paid to creating facial impressions and gestures, which are individual to each character. To look into the eyes of a cartoon zebra and empathise with its desires and ambitions is quite dis-heartening at first but without a doubt, DreamWorks should be commended for their ability to create characters that we can identify with.

>>>My thoughts<<<

There is serious competition these days to create good animated films. In many ways, Toy Story set the bar high and any films released since then have to be consistently witty and technologically more advanced to compete. Madagascar is a good film but I am not convinced it has the spark that is necessary when up against films like Shrek and Ice Age. I found the familiarity of the characters distracting and although funny, it felt like many of the jokes were based on emulating other films or people which although enough to raise a chuckle can be a bit shallow. There is enough to entertain the kids in this film (although my 3 year old got bored half way through) but some parents might find the films attempts to identify with the grown-ups tedious and unnecessary. My advice is if you see it in the sales; pick it up, otherwise save your pennies for an other DreamWorks production - it just so happens I have reviewed a few of these lately if you need a point in the right direction

>>>Did you know<<<

> Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani were each considered for the voice of Gloria the Hippo before Jada Pinkett Smith signed on.

> In the beginning, the film centred on a group of activists liberating the animals from their cages.

My children watch the movie in the car 3 or 4 times a month and I laugh out loud every time. King Julien and the penguins are great! Just as much fun for adults as for kids. Laugh out loud hilarious.

Madagascar is a funny, enjoyable and fanstatic movie.

As the previous review has noted this film feels like disney of old. There are multiple stars in the film - penguins, lemur king and side kick, and the main quartet (lion, giraffe, zebra and hippo) which means the film is full - one set of characters does not have to carry the whole film as in the obnoxious shark tale (again see previous review). The penguins and lemurs fill in around the main stars relieving them of this need which I dont think they would have been up to. The three groups have completely different qualities which make the film very balanced.

The writers have avoided clich - e.g. the monkeys are clearly based on the see no - hear no - speak no evil trio but the writers have only used two and even these have not been copied exactly.

The music is enjoyable - at the cinema I went to there were kids up in front of the screen dancing to the music during the credits.

Go and see it. Then buy it on dvd when it comes out. Then buy the writers a drink.

Madagascar was a poor film from Dreamworks,Took three children aged 3, 5, and 14 they all got bored.

A complete waste of a Sunday afternoon and £28!

Take four pampered, zoo born-and-bred animals, drop them into the deepest, darkest jungles of Madagascar, and hilarity ensues. That at least is the theory in Dreamworks' latest computer generated animation. Though it would be more accurate to call Madagascar a cartoon in the old sense of the word since, tehcnical methodology aside, the style of this movie is, in part, heavily influenced by the likes of Bugs and Daffy.

Dreamworks of course have inflicted upon us the good (the first Shrek), the bad (the second Shrek), and the downright ugly (Shark Tale). Madagascar is largely the work of the key people involved in making the better than average Ice Age. Whilst that flick may have had its flaws, it ranks among the better Dreamworks titles and thankfully Madagascar largely improves upon it to give a genuinely entertaining, funny, and referential hour and a half.

The movie starts with Alex the egotistical lion (Stiller), Marty the wistful, daydreaming zebra (Rock), Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (Schwimmer), and Gloria the, frankly, bland hippopotamus (Pinkett-Smith) happily living their lives in the New York Zoo. Alex is treated like royalty, and is the star of the zoo - drawing crowds of children and pensioners alike. Marty dreams of "the wild", a seemingly magical mystical place, complete with flying penguins, where an animal is free and happy. Inspired by some penguins bent on escape to Antarctica Marty seizes an opportunity to escape the zoo, heading for "the wilds" - of Connecticut. Seeking to save their friend from what they see as madness, the others leave the zoo to perform an intervention.

Soon enough, Marty and his friends are captured, crated, and on their way to a wildlife park in Africa. The penguins, discovering they are headed for the jungles rather than the ice floes, seize control of the ship and head south. In the confusion our four heroes are thrown overboard and wash ashore on the island of Madagascar.

Animated movies, of late, have tended to fall into one of two camps. There are the intelligent, endearing movies made by Pixar. There are the pop-reference-heavy, visual overloads made by Dreamworks. And nothing much in the middle ground. Madagascar, at last, fills that middle ground with some flair, and a modicum of imagination. It's not going to set the world on fire, but it is far superior to Shark Tale, and Robots. Why? Because it knows it's a cartoon.

Yes, there are references throughout Madagascar. Blink and you'll miss one, certainly. My personal favourite is the Planet of the Apes one in all it's Heston-esque glory, but there are many others for the adults to spot and giggle at.

But above all, Madagascar realises just how silly it should be, without resorting to puerile toilet humour (well, mostly...) and retaining a sense of fun. Marooned on the beach, Marty soon builds a bar, complete with mood lighting, drinks that you're not supposed to, well, drink, and a door without any walls. I've seen reviewers decry this, but they entirely miss the point. This is Bugs Bunny style of cartoonery. It's Looney Tunes territory, complete with dancing, singing lemurs, an old lady that looks eerily like Tweety's Granny, dream sequences where everybody looks like steak, and a lion that builds an impressive Statue of Liberty out of reeds and logs.

It's ridiculous, it's border-line self-parody, but above all, it's actually funny. Where Robots tried so hard to be funny, and largely failed, Madagascar falls back on the basics of kid's cartoons from the ages and largely succeeds. There's slapstick, there are moments of foolishness, and there are sight gags. The penguins, and King Julian, steal the show, overshadowing the main characters. Nevertheless, the two leads - Marty and Alex - give a strong showing.

The voice work is acceptable, without generally being brilliant - Sacha Baron Cohen being the rather exceptional exception to that. Stiller does well as Alex, and is remarkably un-Stiller in many instances, but Schwimmer, and more so Pinkett-Smith, are hardly used and largely forgettable. Rock, as Marty, suits the character well enough and invests the zebra with remarkable enthusiasm, naivete, and warmth. Unlike Robin Williams' sleepwalking, er, talking, in Robots everybody here feels invested in their characters.

The artistic sense of the film is remarkable for ignoring the rather appalling precedent set by Shark Tale - none of the animals look remotely like their voice-actors, and are stylistically exaggerated to the point of genuine cartoon. Madagascar eschews the faux realism of previous Dreamworks movies and revels in it's flexible, and occasionally over-the-top, lack of grounding in any world we could conceivably inhabit. Penguins deliver karate chops to sailors, an old granny pounds Alex into submission, and Marty is remarkably dextrous given he has no opposable thumbs.

As noted, there are a plethora of in-jokes and references for the movie buff, and the adult crowd. But mainly Madagascar is aimed at the kids, and as such it scores well. Kids will love the colour, the insufferable cuteness of the lemurs, and the inevitable dance song. Adults will find enough to keep them entertained without their eyes glazing over.

Whilst not as clever as Pixar's movies, Madagascar is a step above Shark Tale, a bound over Robots, and an highly entertaining experience.

7.5/10.