Good sequel that lives up to the first

Rating: 10/10 (3 July 2018)

The first of the two Madagascar sequels was funny and original, and the second is almost great as the first one, with many new characters.
Here Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria leave from Madagascar with a decrepit plane ''fixed'' by the lemurs and the four penguins, but it suffers a crash-landing and they end in Africa. After a fight encounter between Alex and the old lady, the quartet discovers that they are ended in Africa, and soon: Alex is reunited with his parents, Gloria meets an handsome male hippo, Melman becames the witch doctor of a giraffe group and Marty meets many other zebras identical to him.
But then problems begin: there is another lion, Makunga, that uses the excuse of the rite of passage to dethrone Alex's dad and replace him as the king; Marty considers that he is not unique, and only Alex helps Marty to be different because of his qualities; Melman thinks that he is soon to death and Gloria doesn't like Melman anymore. Then Alex, with the help of the wrecked plane destroys the dam and makes the water return in the reserve, and then Gloria returns attracted to Melman, while the old lady with a group of tourists tries to survive in the African wilderness by themselves.
The plot of the movie, in Alex's side, is a bit recycled from ''The Lion King'', only that here the villain is alone, and not with three stupid hyenas as his henchmen. And at the beginning the three penguins replace the boy in the Dreamworks logo.
The animation is always great and colorful like in the first movie, the soundtrack is also good (and in the end credits there is Will. I. Am's cover of I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT), and the actors are all good, especially Ben Stiller and Chris Rock as Alex and Marty, Alec Baldwin is deliciously evil as Makunga, and Bernie Mac (in his last movie) gives a great performance as Zuba, Alex's dad,
I recommend this movie to all fans of the trilogy.