Mad about Madagascar

Rating: 8/10 (11 February 2006)

I am writing this review after having watched "Madagascar" for the third time. for the sake of the movie, this is a good thing since I really did not like it when I first viewed it, which was in the theaters. I am a big 'toon fan and like many other "toonheads" and movie reviewers, I felt that "Shrek" and "Ice Age" set the standard for adult cartoons that are as entertaining as they are side-splitting funny. It is no coincidence that these type of cartoons are intentionally designed to get more laughs from adults than kids.
Even though there are countless references to other cartoons, I feel that this deserves to be seen without looking through the prisms of other works. It really does not matter how Madagascar stacks up to Shrek anymore than trying to compare Brokeback Mountain to Cinderella Man. View it as if it were the only adult cartoon ever made.
I initially went into "Madagascar" thinking that I would be seeing another "Shrek," since that is how it was promoted and that is primarily the reason why I left the theater feeling cheated. They say that some movies need to be seen more than once to be appreciated, and after watching this two more time on video, I can say, unequivocally, that this one gets better with each sitting.
At first, I did not like the voice characterizations for a few reasons. First of all, I do not like Ben Stiller at all, who does the voice of "Alex, the Lion". Secondly, I thought that giving the role of "Marty, the Zebra," to Chris Rock, was being blatantly derivative of "Donkey" in Shrek both from a character standpoint, and because, like Eddie Murphy, Rock was another black alumnus from "Saturday Night Live". Now, don't get me wrong: I think that Chris Rock is a great comic actor, although nowhere close to a seasoned Eddie Murphy, but he has one of the most grating voices in showbiz since Louie Anderson.
One the other hand, the choice of Jada Pinkett Smith to play Gloria, the "Hip-Hop", Hippo, and David Schwimmer to play Melman, the Narcoleptic Giraffe were casting gems.
All of the criticisms that I initially had about Madagascar faded away during the second. Upon final review, Madagascar is one, really funny cartoon that I recommend be seen more than once.
Madagascar is actually two stories in one about two sets of four animal friends that reside in New York's Central Park Zoo. The main story centers around the longings of Marty to be back in the wild and wide-open spaces of Africa rather than couped up in a technologically-controlled synthetic jungle "environment." His best friend, Alex, is a ham at heart who loves to be the center of human attention at the daily zoo shows. Gloria is the stabilizing force between these two opposites and frequently acts as mediator between them. Melman seems perfectly happy just to have a life that has some constancy.
As you have read in other reviews, the four wind up getting accidentally shipped (dumped) to Madagascar where they meet the wackiest bunch of lemurs you will ever see.
The second group of animal friends in the movie are four commando-like penguins who are more intent on getting out of the Big Apple, and do so by breaking out of the zoo, commandeering a huge cargo ship, and hijacking it to Antartica! The penguins are a needed comic-relief to a few, overly serious moments in Madagascar.
Like Shrek 2, there are plenty of inside jokes and send-ups of other films (such as Planet of the Apes, American Beauty, and From Here to Eternity). More funny, however, are the more subtle gags which I will not reveal here lest they lose their desired impact.
What makes Madagascar work, in the final analysis, is that it stays true to its storyline, and never forgets the importance of friendship in all relationships.