Has little fun for adults, but the kids may like it

Rating: 5/10 (16 June 2005)

Went to see the movie last night, expecting to find it at least amusing, if not funny. It was amusing okay, but I couldn't help seeing some plot problems. The beginning is good, especially the penguin scenes - these birds really steal the show. But as soon as the animals arrive on the island, the story starts to fall apart. Seems like the authors had this great idea of bringing some zoo fauna into the wild life and showing all the fun stuff that can happen in such circumstances, but didn't know where to go from there. As a result, there's no real villain, no real problem that these animals face... and no real fun for grown-up viewers. As for kids, I don't think they can learn much from this story, whether it's knowledge of Madagascarian unique wildlife (which is indeed depicted poorly, with only two major kinds of animals presented in the movie) or lessons of building relationship with friends. Some kids may even get scared by a skeleton hanging from a tree or get upset by seeing a duckling being eaten by a crocodile in one of a minor scenes. It's still worth renting, but not worth going to the movies. 5 out of 10.