Great animation and performance but largely missing a storyline .

Rating: 7/10 (26 July 2005)

I always find it difficult to review films like this as any final judgement I make about Madagascar won't do it justice. So here goes. Your Kids will love it but you won't. Even that isn't right. I mean kids will enjoy the whole film from start to finish without a doubt but, for me personally, the whole film was missing a storyline. Here you have four animals voiced by four well known actors. Ben Stiller voices Alex the Lion, Chris Rock takes on Marty the Zebra, David "Ross" Schwimmer tackles the job of Melman the Zebra and Jada "Mrs Will" Smith does a great job with Gloria the hippo. The animation is faultless and the chemistry between the four animals is slick. Each character is his/her own and, with the exception of David Schwimmer's Melman who reminded me far too much of his friends alter-ego Ross, the character voices fit in perfectly. The jokes are of a childish nature but there are a few moments which will get even the most hardened of adults giggling to themselves.(The penguins are great.)Some parts made me question the U certificate. However, I just felt that there could have been more of a story to it. More of a challenge for the four animals. Visually this is great but as a movie it is too short and basic. It doesn't have the same entertainment value as Shrek or Shark Tale but it does have it's good points. If your feeling down or under the weather and you want a feel good movie then give this a try. If you want an entertaining treat for your children i'd definitely recommend this. Other than that i'd recommend giving it a miss. 7/10.