Solid fun for the youngsters

Rating: 7/10 (11 December 2008)

You don't need to have seen Madagascar 1, which is just as well, because I haven't. There is a recap at the start which also adds in some essential information about Alex the Lion, which pays off much earlier in the film than expected.
This movie is big, loud, colourful fun. There is little of substance, but a lot of quite good (though superficial) laughs. The character design is great, the film often looks quite beautiful, the voice cast all perform well (Alec Baldwin, in particular, sounds as if he's having a ball as the villain of the piece), and there is quite enough plot to carry things along.
There's no message of any great significance (unless inter-species romance carries some sort of subliminal subtext which I missed), which is actually something of a relief.
Incidentally, if they make any more of these, then the titles are going to become increasingly misleading: only the very start of this one is set on Madagascar! The six year old next to me laughed raucously quite often, and so did I. So that's a recommendation from both of us!