Escaping, crashing, or vacationing, it's still a good time

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2012)

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa? After watching the film, something about the title, when you say it, doesn't sound right. Even if you've read the plot, the title doesn't make too much sense. The plot involves Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melmen the giraffe (David Schwimmer) as they wind up fleeing the country of Madagascar in the very beginning of the film in a junkyard plane, flown by the pesky penguins, with hopes of reaching New York City. They crash-land in Africa, with no intentions of escaping to there. I guess they wanted to find a way to employ a title of uniqueness.
No bother. It's not a huge distraction. Especially considering that the film is a notable improvement from its predecessor. Sometime during the three year break between Madagascar and its sequel, the brewing franchise found direction, hope, and audacity and created a sequel effectively better than the first - a rare quality indeed.
Continuing on with the plot, the film opens with nice backstory showcasing how Alex, whose birth name was apparently "Alakay," was born in Africa to two loving parents. His father was Zuba, the alpha lion of the entire land. He turns his back for a few seconds, and Alex is lured to a group of animal poachers and is crated up and taken away. Zuba chases after him with no luck, and Alex's crate doesn't survive a rocky turn, catapulting him into a river. He floats to New York City, is greeted with open arms, and is quickly put into the Central Park Zoo where he will obtain a loyal following of fans. Despite being very dark and somewhat depressing, the elegance of it all sort of gives the picture a Lion King style quality I was not expecting.
Then the whole ordeal with the planned flight, intriguing plane crash, and acceptance of being stranded again takes place, before we finally get something else delightfully unexpected; the characters separating. In the original Madagascar, the four animals stuck like clue. In this picture, they go off on their own for a good chunk of the film and sort of evolve into believable animals. The whole quality of the animals sounding like actors and not like their own individual self? Still present, but hidden behind the depth of the storytelling. Alex catches up with his father and mother, Marty desperately seeks confidence in his originality, Gloria finds a plump man, and Melmen becomes the "alpha-doctor?" and frets over confessing his love to Gloria; one of the many sweet love stories the film brings. There is also the obligatory evil character Makunga (Alec Baldwin), Zuba's rival lion, who adds some nicely placed tension to the film whenever he comes on screen. And even King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) returns to provide some nice humor.
And did I forget to mention those four troublesome penguins? They get much deserved screen time in the picture, providing levels of insight and wittiness complimented by the film's overall narrative, which is more controlled and well-kept rather than so kinetic, jumbled, and anarchic. Is Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa on the same level as a Pixar film? No, but it works as a welcomed rebellion to the company. It sort of reminds me of how in decades past, animation films were theoretically monopolized by Disney, and few films (I can think of Bebe's Kids and Cats Don't Dance) challenged that assumption and ventured out to create their own world. Madagascar's sequel shows its sentimental side I was asking for during the original film. It's a balancing act of humor, sentimentality, and creativity, and is all captured pleasantly.
Voiced by: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Alec Baldwin. Directed by: Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath.