Actually a little bit better than the original

Rating: 6/10 (17 April 2009)

They are here again. Alex the Lion, Marty, Gloria etc.
The back story of Alex is great and whoever thought of casting Bernie Mac as Alex' father deserves some kind of award.
Chris rock once again scores as Marty. He may not be able to curse his way through his performance but did you really miss it that much? As the first one, his friendship with Alex is once again put to the test and here is where the movie once again loses its wind. Can opposite species come together? A thinly veiled plot point and not really well thought out.
Luckily, there are a hundred more laughs than there were in no. 1. Sacha Baron Cohen is hilarious and the penguins get more clever lines than in the original.
David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith get their love story. Not that great but what are you gonna do? The rival to their romance is a pretty funny character (how many fat jokes are there?).
I almost forgot Alec Baldwin. What a good sport, his character is really not that much and still he gives it his all. Not since his self-deprecating performance on the Simpsons have I admired him more than I did here.
The animation is improved which is always a good thing but still, the movie isn't the phenomenon it would have been, had it been released a decade ago. Still, did I mention that it is better than the original?