could have been better (for the adults at least)

Rating: 5/10 (7 July 2005)

I had heard the negative comments from critics and other concerning Madagascar--I can understand why. From the moment Marty (the zebra voiced by Chris Rock) and Alex (the lion voiced by Ben Stiller) speak, I had a very hard time believing the characters matched the voice. Alex the lion seemed too timid to be a lion (even later in the film when he realizes who he REALLY is as a lion). Rock seemed to force Marty's character to the point where it just didn't seem believable. It's a shame b/c those two are the main characters. I enjoyed David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith as the giraffe and hippo, respectively--those two i believed. The penguins are hilarious and Sasha Baron Cohen aka Ali G steals the scenes he's in as Lemur king Julien. That being said--the Lemurs and Penguins had the best scenes. As an adult, I could care less how the plot was going until the lemurs come in and those biting pop culture references kicked in (look for a hilarious twilight zone and American Beauty reference/spoof--i couldn't stop laughing when i saw those). But it seemed those were the only genuine laughs it had. Kids will love the flick but something was missing to make it Shrek-like in its quality.