But the Previews Were Great

Rating: 5/10 (30 May 2005)

We planned my son's 7th birthday party around Madagascar -- the hot new animated movie coming out on the holiday weekend: hooray! If only it had lived up to the hype. First, the kids did like it. Second, the adults pretty much only liked the obscure references, the penguins and the lemurs. OK, everyone likes the lemurs. Here's what I'm saying: don't plan a party around this thing, OK? Because after seeing this, coming back to your Madagascar-decorated house is sort of an embarrassment ... Most of the performances seemed under what the visual outrageousness of the characters demanded, and, I'll just say it, Ben Stiller was a big disappointment. Chris Rock was adequate, but you never forgot he was Chris Rock. The other two main characters could have been voiced by anyone else with as much success. I'm sure we'll end up buying this thing on DVD, but it had better be on sale ...