so-so, quite forgettable

Rating: 4/10 (15 November 2008)

I've been waiting for this one. But then, it turned out to be another Shrek 3 - ruining a good film with sequels.
In this film, the four friends are separated, each of them having their own storyline. I'm fine with this treatment. But while some of the plots are slightly better, some are quite predictable and boring. Unlike Shrek 1 which is full of unexpected twists and pleasant surprises, for this one I was like "I know xxxx is going to redeem his pride", "I know xxxx will be together with xxxx", etc. And I guessed right all the time.
To me, Dreamwork excels in crispy, modern and clever jokes. Even if the characters show the emotional side, they show it in a stylish and funny way. So that's why I had most problems with the main storyline - ***SPOILER*** the scene when "Mufasa" breathlessly chasing the truck that took "Simba", or when the lion king family happily got together after the long separation, or when "Scar" succeeded in his evil plans. ***END OF SPOILER*** If these scenes are meant to be moving, they're not dramatic enough; if they're meant to be comedy-like, they're not funny enough. Maybe the intention was to achieve both, but it kept making me confused because I didn't know whether to laugh at the characters or feel for them. I mean, why do they even imitate The Lion King? That film was doing extremely well on the emotion side, and if Dreamwork wants to do a better job, they should just stick to what they're good at.
Another thing I don't like is the violence. I don't mind violence being shown in a cartoon style - the bird being blown up by Fiona's singing in Shrek 1 was quite brute, but I enjoyed it. ***SPOILER*** However in Madagascar 2, when the main characters let the car run over the old lady, or Alex and the old lady slapping each other and Alex even broke a tooth (man, that sure hurts!), I don't see anything funny about it. I feel it's wrong. And... am I the only one who feels sorry for the shark dying that way? ***END OF SPOILER*** I enjoyed the penguins. But I feel it's not good when you love the supporting characters more than the main ones. It's like ice age 2 - I was just waiting for the squirrel to appear for his 10 seconds show every time.
All in all, I only laughed no more than 5 times throughout the whole show. There are good jokes, yes; it's enjoyable, yes; but it still seems like Dreamwork's ideas are running out. It has absolutely no chance to compete with Wall-E for the Oscars. I do hope there's no Madagascar 3.