Strong Characters Adrift in a Wishy-Washy Introduction

Rating: 3/10 (24 November 2015)

A group of lifelong zoo captives, buddies despite their hunter-vs-hunted natural relationship, arrange a prison break and try to find themselves, for better or worse, in the wild. Madagascar is a rough early effort from DreamWorks animation and, for the most part, it's a waste of vocal talent. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen all chip in on a ho-hum plot that fails to hit either heartstrings or funnybones. The characters themselves are strong, a well-developed mix of distinct shapes and colorful personalities that would go on to blossom in later installments, but here they're mere saplings at the mercy of a flat, played-out storyline. Even the animation has aged poorly, playing more like a student's demo reel than a multi-million dollar major studio production. It's tempting to give that a pass, given how far technology has come in the ten years since, but Pixar had already released Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles by this time, and those all hold up wonderfully. An also-ran in all respects, it's got missed potential by the boatloads, but not much more.