Fun, yes, but largely unremarkable all the same.

Rating: Null/10 (24 December 2008)

There are movies that, to be fair, never quite do anything remotely significant or innovative; they lack purpose for their existence. When it comes to sequels, this factor comes into play even more so. Madagascar 2 by all means shouldn't have been made for any other reason other than that which gave it life in the first place. To be frank, there was no real reason for it to be made outside the fact that the first movie, although routinely mediocre, at least pulled in the green. Yet much like its predecessor, this second, mostly superfluous entry into the animated movie you never thought would turn into a franchise 2 years ago, at least has some intelligent and heart-felt design to back up its pointless endeavours. Fans of the original movie will love it; all the characters are back, and the humour remains in the same vein as instalment one, but even such customers will leave feeling a little underwhelmed by what is achieved here. Its fluffy entertainment aimed at families for holiday viewing, and in all honesty that is all it amounts to; fun, yes, but largely unremarkable all the same.
This time around, the story attempts to fill in gaps from before the first movie, and then continue on from where that one left off. Leaving Madagascar in a dodgy, penguin-manned airplane, the four best friends fly off into the sunset hoping that they reach the U.S.A. once more. Such is the consequence of trusting a penguin however; all aboard soon find themselves in Africa after a very funny crash landing. From here on the movie branches off into numerous plot lines, some being larger than others. The most dominant of these centers around Alex once more as he finds out he has long lost relatives in his native land. Struggling to fit in with his more traditional friends and family, Alex is soon alienated from those around him in a touching and emotive manner.
If there is one major fault with Escape 2 Africa's strict however, it's that it relies far too heavily on this type of melodrama to pull its story along. There's a fair amount of humor too, but I often found myself sulking in my seat rather than chuckling. Is this a bad thing? For Madagascar, yes. This imbalance towards drawing out tears means that the writers must invest more in drama and character, which this movie simply does not have enough of. That's not to say that such moments aren't welcome, because they are, but there's just too much here to keep things evenly entertaining.
A much greater and well constructed element of Escape 2 Africa is its structure and sense of pacing in each individual plot line. Of course, much of these clash towards the climax of the movie, and the result is satisfying and well choreographed to blend together. Without bogging down the feature with weighty exposition and mundane setup, the writers manage to tie all the elements together in ways that feel natural to the story and characters; there were times where I was genuinely surprised to find minute details from earlier scenes playing larger parts in later ones; not only is it clever, but it serves the direction of the movie well and keeps things moving at a decent pace. I'm rarely one to be caught off guard by such a movie, but Madagascar 2 did it quite a few times.
Visually and aurally, Escape 2 Africa is impressive insofar as most animated movies go. In terms of animation quality and design, the movie pulls out all the stops in making this one grander and more visually entertaining than the first. Character animations are crisp and full of life with backdrops and environments being just as, if not even more interesting to gaze upon. The performances from the central cast also bring with them an extra dimension of life; for the most part, this is strictly sequel material, and all actors stick to their roles as closely as they did for the first, but that's not entirely a bad thing. A common misstep with such features is that the voice actors feel distant and uninvolved with their animated selves, but such is not the case here with many often being echoed in the mannerisms of their animals in many humorous ways.
So yes, there's no denying that Madagascar 2 is a pretty film, but is it one of substance? To some degree, yes, it is, but only in respect to the average animated fare. With the evolution and ever growing maturity of the genre however, one has to wonder whether Escape 2 Africa is anything new or refreshing. To be fair, there's a good mix of everything here from drawing out the laughs from children and adults to making them both feel a little something too -which is no small task-, so it at least provides it primary functions. Yet despite its pleasing design and well constructed façade, there nevertheless remains the irrevocable fact that much of what takes place here feels perfunctory for the sake of simply making another unnecessary movie. In that vein, Madagascar 2 loses some value, but not much. Fans of the original movie, plus those looking for a bit of family fluff for the holidays could do much worse than what is present here; Escape 2 Africa is fun and has its heart in the right place, even if it is all a little indistinguishable from its brethren at the end of the day.

A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)