moderately entertaining film

Rating: 6/10 (15 June 2006)

In "Madagascar," four animals - a feisty hippo, a neurotic giraffe, an applause-addicted lion, and a freedom-yearning zebra - break out of their home in the Central Park Zoo, get crated up and shipped off to Kenya, and wind up stranded on the island of Madagascar. While there, they have to adapt to a whole new kind of life in the wild, learning their place in the natural order of things, which is something they've been shielded from all their lives.
This is a bright, colorful, amiable film with likable characters, first rate animation and fine vocal work from the likes of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith. The movie is at its best in the scenes set in Manhattan as the animals roam through the city streets causing terror and havoc as they go. However, once they arrive back in "the wild," the narrative begins to run out of steam, primarily because the writers have failed to come up with any compelling villain or foil for them to go up against. There's fun to be had in watching Alex, the highly pampered and civilized lion, getting in touch with his long-dormant and suppressed predatory nature, but it isn't enough to make the film much more than a mild diversion.
Still, the movie doesn't completely shy away from some of the more brutal truths of nature, without, at the same time, becoming too frightening or disturbing for impressionable youngsters. It's certainly a lovely movie to look at, and that makes it at least tolerable for adults - impressionable or otherwise - as well.