Bursting with colourful animation

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2013)

Madagascar
*** (out of 4)
86 mins/ PG
Cast: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Tom McGrath, Elisa Gabrielli
Directors: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
Plot: A group of animals break out of their zoo to reach the wild but accidentally end up on the tropical island of Madagascar.
JJ's Verdict: Madagascar is a funny and child-friendly animation bursting with vibrant colours and characters. Its ensemble of recognisable voices add brilliant realism to their characters and makes this film a joy from start to finish.
Madagascar centres on animals living in New York Central Zoo, most of which are striving to something greater than being attractions in a zoo. The animals are Ben Stiller's Alex the lion, who likes his status as king of the zoo, Chris Rock's Marty the zebra, who strives to visit the wild, David Schwimmer's Melman the giraffe, who doesn't really care who he is, Jada Pinkett Smith's Gloria the hippopotamus, who is the mummy of the group, a group of secret agent-like penguins who have been trying to escape the zoo for years and two posh monkeys who enjoy reading newspapers and drinking cups of tea. All these characters have clearly defined characteristics, which, for a kid's animation, is exactly what you want. The penguins are particularly funny. They speak in mafia-like voices, make slick movements and a cool piece of music is played whenever they come on screen.
After escaping from the zoo, the animals are caught by an angry and violent granny in a wonderfully animated Grand Central Station and then put on a boat to be deported. Not wanting to give up hopes, the secret agent penguins begin a brilliant operation to hijack the boat but after a lot of confusion and animals overboard, everyone ends up on the island of Madagascar. Here they encounter over the top and eccentric King Julien of the Lemurs who is suitably voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen. After gaining the lemurs friendship, the animals have to come to terms with their ordeal and try to escape Madagascar.
The film is bursting with unusual and original characters and the animation is both fun and colourful. It is incredibly silly and actually too short (usually today films are too long) as there were definitely more sub-plots the film could have gone into. But Madagascar endless sense of fun will capture children's minds in what is probably the animated film of 2005.