Typical DreamWorks...nothing ingenious

Rating: 4/10 (11 June 2005)

OK, from the previews I saw for the film, I expected it to be amusing. Though I'm a steadfast and true Disney fan, I decided to see Madagascar with an open mind towards DreamWorks. So, I went with my family to the movie. Wow, the entire time, classic scenes from Disney films were flashing through my mind as I watched Madagascar. Here are a few of the notable similarities/blatant copies of Disney: the scenes where the lion has dreams while he is tranquilized and when he dreams about steak are so very similar to the classic scene "Pink Elephants" scene in Dumbo. Probably the most blatant steal from Disney is when the lion becomes an actual lion and not a "show-lion." His eyes change from cartoon eyes to natural lion eyes. Where have we seen this before? Oh, yes, Finding Nemo. Remember when Bruce the shark smells the blood and becomes a wild great white shark again? Yes, I specifically remember sitting in a theater, watching Finding Nemo, feeling very impressed with the idea of using eyes to show the transformation from tame to wild. When I saw that DreamWorks had used this in Madagascar, I became very unhappy.
Madagascar is not without it's redeeming factors, however. Namely, the penguins. The penguins were truly the best part of the entire film. First of all, penguins are awesome animals, and Disney realized this. (See Mary Poppins for the ultimate collection of dancing penguins.) There were moments in Madagascar where there was no dialogue, but there was just a few penguins walking around. The audience was cracking up at the penguins just walking around.
In conclusion, Madagascar was horribly over-advertised, and it turned out to steal most itself from Disney films, like most of the other DreamWorks films. However, the penguins were great.