Fabulous Movie

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2005)

There has been a tremendous amount of hype surrounding this movie... the next Shrek supposedly. While I found the characters lovable and the quips numerous, this movie lacked the same quality of entertainment value I've found in movies like Shrek, Shrek 2, Monsters Inc and Ice Age.
The animation genre is sometimes lacking in appeal for the adult crowd, and I find that Madagascar has come up short in providing enough of the classic one liners found in the likes of Aladdin , Toy Story and Robots.
Notable characters who make the movie worth seeing include:
King Julian the Lemur - Sacha Baron Cohen Skipper the Penguin - Tom McGrath Marty the Zebra - Chris Rock
Notable characters for all the wrong reasons:
Melman the Giraffe - David Schwimmer (worst performance ever, he should stick to movies where his dumbfounded expression gets him some credit). Gloria the Hippo - Jada Pinkett Smith (while she had some decent moments, on the whole the movie could exist without this character and there be no significant loss.) Alex the Lion - Ben Stiller (lackluster is the best word I can use here to describe his delivery of lines... he's supposed to be a central character but he just comes across as a pain in the butt.)
While I would recommend seeing this movie, for movie-goers of all ages, I wouldn't get too pumped up about it unless your mom still packs a lunch for you.
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