Madagascar (2005)

Madagascar is a 2005 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. It was directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath (in McGrath's feature directorial debut) and written by Mark Burton, Billy Frolick, Darnell, and McGrath. The film stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith, voicing a group of animals from the Central Park Zoo who find themselves stranded on the island of Madagascar.
Released May 27, 2005, Madagascar received mixed reviews from critics but was a success at the box office, becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 2005. It launched the Madagascar franchise which includes the sequels Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012); the spin-off film Penguins of Madagascar (2014); several short films, television series, and specials; and a number of video games, theme park attractions, and live stage shows Madagascar Is Fake Ice Age.
==Plot==
At the Central Park Zoo, Marty the zebra celebrates his tenth birthday but has grown bored with his daily routine and longs to experience the wild. Marty's best friend is Alex the lion, who enjoys showing off for the public and his celebrity status as "the king of New York". Alex attempts to cheer Marty up, but Marty, still unsatisfied, learns that the zoo's penguins—Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private—are trying to escape, and follows them out. Alex, Melman the giraffe, and Gloria the hippopotamus pursue Marty and attempt to convince him to return. The four, along with the penguins and two chimpanzees named Mason and Phil, converge at Grand Central Station where the authorities sedate them using tranquilizer guns. Under pressure from anti-captivity activists, the zoo is forced to ship the escaped animals by sea to a Kenyan wildlife preserve. During their travels, the penguins escape and take over the ship, intent on taking it to Antarctica. Their antics on the bridge cause the crates containing Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria to fall overboard and wash ashore on Madagascar.
The animals come across a pack of lemurs led by King Julien XIII. The predatory fossa attack the lemurs, but are scared off by Alex's fearsome appearance. Alex blames Marty for the group's predicament (even though Alex was really the one to blame as he was the one who scared people). Attempts to signal for help to get back to civilization. Marty finds the wild to be exactly what he was looking for, and Gloria and Melman soon join him in enjoying the island. Alex eventually comes around, but without the raw steaks he was provided at the zoo, hunger sets in and his prey drive begins to show. King Julien has the lemurs befriend the zoo animals in the hope that Alex's presence will keep the fossa at bay, despite his adviser Maurice's warnings about Alex's predatory nature. When Alex loses control and attacks Marty, Julien realizes that he is a threat and banishes him to the predator side of the island, where the fossa live. Seeing what has happened to Alex, and how dangerous the wild can be, Marty begins to regret his decision to leave the zoo.
The penguins, having found Antarctica to be inhospitable, land the ship at Madagascar. Seeing the chance to return Alex to New York, Marty crosses over to the predator side and attempts to convince the grizzled, starving Alex to return, but Alex refuses out of fear that he will attack Marty again. The fossa attack Marty, and though Gloria, Melman, and the penguins come to the rescue, they are outnumbered. Alex overcomes his predatory instincts, rescues his friends, and scares the fossa away from the lemur territory forever. The lemurs regain their respect for Alex, and the penguins satisfy his hunger by feeding him sushi. As the lemurs throw a farewell celebration for the foursome, the penguins decide not to break the news that the ship has run out of fuel.
==International Versions==
===Danish===
	DANSKE STEMMER 	· KARAKTER 	· ORIGINAL STEMME
	 	 	
	Søren Fauli 	· Alex 	· Ben Stiller
	Trine Dyrholm 	· Gloria 	· Jada Pinkett Smith
	Søren Ulrichs 	· Kong Julien 	· Sacha Baron Cohen (King Julien)
	Lasse Lunderskov 	· Kowalski 	· Chris Miller
	Mick Øgendahl 	· Marty 	· Chris Rock
	Jens Jacob Tychsen 	· Mason 	· Conrad Vernon
	Ole Ernst 	· Maurice 	· Cedric The Entertainer
	Jesper Asholt 	· Melman 	· David Schwimmer
	Peter Secher Schmidt 	· Mort 	· Andy Richter
	Allan Olsen 	· Rekrut 	· Christopher Knights (Private)
	Peter Secher Schmidt 	· Rico 	· John DiMaggio
	Henrik Prip 	· Skipper 	· Tom McGrath
	 	 	
	Anders Klindt Lauridsen	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Anders Ørsager Hansen 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Birgitte Hall 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Claus Storgaard 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Grethe Mogensen 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Henrik Prip 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Johnny Jørgensen 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Lars Lippert 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Lars Thiesgaard 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Lene Bærkgaard Williams	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Mads Enggaard 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Peter Røschke 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Puk Scharbau 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
	Tine Sehested Høeg 	· Øvrig Medvirkende	· Øvrig Medvirkende
==Cast==
* Ben Stiller as Alex, a lion. Tom McGrath explained that "Ben Stiller was the first actor we asked to perform, and we knew we wanted his character, Alex, to be a big performing lion with a vulnerable side."
* Chris Rock as Marty, a plains zebra. McGrath explained the character: "Marty is a guy who thinks there might be more to life than what's in the zoo. We wanted his character to be energetic, so we listened to Chris Rock."
* David Schwimmer as Melman, a hypochondriac reticulated giraffe who is afraid of germs. When they were looking for a voice actor for Melman, they listened to Schwimmer's voice on Friends and, according to McGrath, thought that it "sounded really neat." During development, Melman the Giraffe was originally supposed to be an okapi but was changed to a giraffe.
* Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria, a strong, confident, but sweet hippopotamus. McGrath said that they found all these traits in Pinkett Smith's voice when they listened to her.
* Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien XIII, a ring-tailed lemur and the king of the lemurs. King Julien was initially only meant to be a "two-line" character until auditioning Baron Cohen improvised eight minutes of dialogue in an Indian accent.
* Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice, an aye-aye and King Julien's royal advisor (to whom Julien never listens).
* Andy Richter as Mort, a Goodman's mouse lemur.
* Tom McGrath as Skipper, the leader of the penguins. McGrath, who was also the film's co-director and co-writer, initially only lent his voice to the temporary tracks. Growing up with films starring tough actors like John Wayne, Charlton Heston, and Robert Stack, McGrath wanted Stack for the voice of Skipper. Stack was approached about voicing the character, but died two weeks before production on the animation began. After that, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg decided to keep the temporary voice, with McGrath explaining: "People were used to me doing that voice. We knew it worked when we screened it." Many of the character's traits were based on Stack's work. McGrath especially emphasized The Untouchables, a 1959 television crime drama series starring Stack.
* Chris Miller as Kowalski, a penguin and Skipper's right hand.
** Miller also voices Timo, a tenrec who is only seen attending Julien's meeting.
* Jeffrey Katzenberg as Rico, a smart and silent penguin who is only expressed through grunts and squeals. Mireille Soria, the film's producer, commented on Katzenberg's uncredited role: "The irony for us is that he's the one who doesn't talk. There's something very Dadaistic about that, isn't there?"
** Katzenberg also voices Abner, a blue-eyed lemur who is only seen at the paradise scene.
* Christopher Knights as Private, an eager, lowly penguin. Knights was also an assistant editor on the film.
* Conrad Vernon as Mason, a chimpanzee (Phil, the other chimpanzee, is unvoiced).
* Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath as the fossa.
** Darnell also voices Hector and Horst, two lemurs.
* David P. Smith as Pancho, a crowned lemur.
** Smith also voices Becca, a black lemur and a spider.
* Elisa Gabrielli as Nana, an elderly New Yorker. Gabrielli provided some background voices until the directors and producer asked her and her fellow actors if they wanted to try their voices for the role. Upon seeing a black and white sketch of Nana, Gabrielli knew that she wanted to voice her. She modeled Nana's voice after her Russian and Hungarian grandmothers and her stepfather, though she didn't think that her voice would be kept in the finished film at first.
* Bob Saget as an unspecified off-screen zoo animal.
* David Cowgill as a police horse.
* Stephen Apostolina as a police officer.
Category:Madagascar (franchise)
Category:Animated features released by DreamWorks SKG
Category:Films with vocal and instrumental credit music
Category:Films set in New York City
Category:2005 animated films
Category:DreamWorks films
Category:DreamWorks Pictures films
Category:DreamWorks Animation films
Category:DreamWorks Animation animated films
Category:Films about penguins
Category:Films
Category:Sound Effects
Category:Directorial debut films
Category:2005 films
Category:Films starring Ben Stiller
Category:Films starring Chris Rock
Category:Films starring David Schwimmer
Category:Films starring Jada Pinkett Smith
Category:Films starring Fred Tatasciore
Category:Children's films
Category:Children's comedy films
Category:Children's animated comedy films
Category:Comedy films
Category:Adventure films
Category:Animated films
Category:Children's adventure films
Category:Children's animated films
Category:Films starring Sacha Baron Cohen
Category:Rated PG
Category:Animation
Category:Adventure
Category:Comedy
Category:Family
Category:Fantasy
Category:Films on VHS
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Category:1:85:1 Aspect Ratio Films