A surprisingly good sequel

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2009)

This is the best animated sequel I've seen in ages... Wait, let me re-phrase that. This is not quite the best animated sequel I've seen in ages, but it is so good that it almost is better than the original film for me and usually I prefer the first films to the seconds films. The only reason I prefer the original film to this is because there are no New York City scenes here. In "Madagasgar", the New York City scenes were very much a highlight, very realistic to the actual places. In many places I find this sequel funnier than the original, there are some very good one-liners here and a few slapstick jokes which are marginally good as well. In this sequel the personalities of all the main characters in the last film are properly revealed and makes them more likable as characters. They were all very good and entertaining and likable in the first film, but here you get to see their "inner" feelings and all that jazz.
This film starts with a father lion in the middle of the African savannah teaching his very young and very cute cub the ways of being a leader and he hopes that one day this little cub will take over the pride. However, the cub is all play and dance, something which slightly disappoints the father lion. Just then, an enemy lion comes to challenge the adult lion and they battle - leaving the cub unsupervised... He is captured by humans and eventually arrives in New York City zoo. Yes, the cub is Alex!
To see and enjoy this film you must really watch "Madagasgar", the first film. If you watch this first, then you are probably going to be incredibly confused and it is not worth seeing this.
I recommend this great film to everyone who enjoyed the first film, to everyone who loves Africa in computer animation and to people who enjoyed the humour of the last film. Enjoy "Madagasgar 2"! :-)