Nature vs Nuture?

Rating: 6/10 (28 May 2005)

Madagascar features a bunch of animals, a lion, a zebra, a hippo and a giraffe specifically who are well-fed and cared for in a city centre zoo in New York. By day, there are stars of the zoo, performing over-the-top stunts and attracting the crowd. That was until the 10th birthday of Marty the zebra when he decided to do something with his life by living his dream of being back in the wilderness. Inspired by a few escaping penguins, he too left for Central Park station and by some strange twist of fate, all of them landed on Madagascar.
Like Shark Tale, the story borders on being a shallow tale. Some of the scenes like the animals taking the city subway and roaming the streets are just simply incredulous. Dialogs are sometimes banal or slapstick, although I must say the star of the voice overs must be Chris Rock who brings his comedic persona into the character of Marty.
The scene where Marty and Alex meet on the beach after a near-shipwreck set against the Vangeli's Chariots of Fire is simply cheesy while the one with Alex mimicking the famous rose-dropping in American Beauty was top-notch.
In the end, I am not too sure if they are advocating that animals should be kept in captivity so that they don't have to face the adverse conditions of the wilderness or we should celebrate the camaraderie between different spiecesthough the thought of a carnivorous animal thinking twice before savouring its prey in the wild is rather unthinkable. Perhaps you have to decide for yourself.
Well, there's still good - the music in the feature, especially the Ali G remake of Reel to Real's I Like To Movie It, does bring Madagscar out of its doldrums at the right time.