Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Theatrical release poster

**Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa** is a 2008 computer-animated epic adventure comedy-drama film, produced by DreamWorks Animation.

It is the sequel to Madagascar. It stars Ben Stiller as Alex, Chris Rock as Marty, Adam Sandler as Michael ,David Schwimmer as Melman, Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria, Bernie Mac as Zuba, Sherri Shepherd as Florrie, Elisa Gabrielli as Nana, Alec Baldwin as Makunga, Tom McGrath as Skipper and Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien. In this film, Alex, Marty, Michael, Melman, and Gloria made an attempt to return to New York, but their plane crash-lands in Africa where Alex is reunited with his parents.

## Plot

In Africa, Zuba the lion tries to teach his son Alakay how to fight, but the cub is more interested in dancing. Rival male Makunga challenges Zuba for the title of alpha lion, and during their fight, Alakay is captured by poachers. Zuba gives chase, and is shot in the ear. The crate containing Alakay falls into the ocean and drifts to New York City, where he is renamed Alex and grows up at the Central Park Zoo with Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippopotamus.

Years later, following their adventure in Madagascar, the zoo animals, Alex, Marty, Michael, Melman, Gloria, the penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private, and chimpanzees Mason and Phil, prepare to return to New York aboard a battered airplane piloted by the penguins, accompanied by the lemurs King Julien, Maurice, and Mort. The plane runs out of fuel and crash lands in continental Africa. The animals find themselves at a watering hole on a nature reserve and are excited to meet others of their species. Alex is reunited with his parents and impresses them with tales of his status as "the king of New York". Marty fits in with a herd of other zebras who look and sound just like him. Melman, a hypochondriac, is distressed that the reserve has no doctors, so the other giraffes appoint him their witch doctor. Seeking romance, Gloria attracts the attention of the smooth-talking male hippo Moto-Moto.

Meanwhile, the penguins set about repairing the plane, assisted by numerous chimpanzees recruited by Mason and Phil. They steal vehicles from several groups of New Yorkers who are on safari and strip them for parts. Nana, a tough old woman who slapped Alex around during the events of *Madagascar*, takes charge of the stranded tourists and helps them survive in the wilderness.

The zoo animals' excitement soon turns to disappointment. In a scheme to oust Zuba as the alpha lion, Makunga insists that Alex complete a rite of passage that Alex mistakes for a talent contest. It is actually a fighting contest, and Makunga tricks him into choosing the strongest lion as his opponent, resulting in Alex's humiliating defeat. Faced with the duty of banishing his son, Zuba relinquishes his title as alpha and Makunga takes over. Meanwhile, Marty is dejected by the realization that the other zebras can do everything he can, believing himself no longer unique. Melman comes to believe that he is deathly ill, and Gloria's interest in Moto Moto saddens him since he has secretly loved her for a long time. The four friends argue heatedly with one another. Gloria has a date with Moto Moto but loses interest when she realizes he is only attracted to her because of her size. After a pep talk from King Julien, Melman finally reveals his feelings for Gloria.

The next day, the animals panic when the watering hole is dried up. Determined to redeem himself, Alex mends his friendship with Marty and they leave the reserve to investigate upriver. King Julien suggests that offering a sacrifice to the nearby volcano will restore the water. Melman, forlorn and believing he is dying, volunteers to be sacrificed. Gloria stops him from jumping into the volcano and realizes that he is the perfect guy for her. Melman then finds out that he isn't dying after all.

Alex, Marty and Michael discover that the stranded New Yorkers have built a camp and dammed up the river, and Alex is captured by them. Zuba rushes to his aid, but Alex saves them both by dancing for the tourists, who remember him fondly from the zoo. Michael, Marty, Melman, Gloria, the penguins, and the chimpanzees arrive in the repaired airplane and help Alex destroy the dam, restoring the water. Makunga angrily makes a stand for control, but Alex tricks him into being subdued by Nana. Zuba offers Alex the title of alpha lion, but he declines, and father and son become co-leaders.

Skipper the penguin marries a bobblehead doll from the plane, and he, the other penguins, and the chimpanzees head off to the honeymoon in Monte Carlo. Alex, Marty, Michael, Melman, Gloria, and the lemurs happily decide to stay on the reserve for a while.

## Cast

* Ben Stiller as Alex
* Chris Rock as Marty
* Adam Sandler as Michael
* David Schwimmer as Melman
* Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria
* Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien
* Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice
* Andy Richter as Mort
* Bernie Mac as Zuba
* Alec Baldwin as Makunga
* Sherri Shepherd as Florrie
* Nolan North as Thomas
* will.i.am as Moto Moto
* Elisa Gabrielli as Nana
* Tom McGrath as Skipper
* Chris Miller as Kowalski
* Christopher Knights as Private
* John DiMaggio as Rico
* Conrad Vernon as Mason

## Reception

### Critical response

The film received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 63% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 153 reviews, with the consensus view that the film was "an improvement on the original, with more fleshed-out characters, crisper animation and more consistent humor," and with an average rating of 5.9/10. Another review aggregator, Metacritic classified the film into the "generally favorable reviews" category with 61/100 approval rating based on 25 reviews, also a bit higher a score than the original.

Michael Phillips of the *Chicago Tribune* stated in his review that the film "goes easy on the pop culture jokes, I should clarify: one of the smarter things in the script is how Alex, who digs his Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins dance moves, becomes the film's primary pop-cult gag." Roger Ebert of the *Chicago Sun-Times* gave the film 3 stars and wrote "This is a brighter, more engaging film than the original *Madagascar*. Steven D. Greydanus complained the film's plot was similar to *The Lion King*, *Joe Versus the Volcano*, and *Happy Feet*. Carrie Rickey of *The Philadelphia Inquirer* gave the film 2 stars and wrote "Take the flat tire that was *Madagascar*. Retread it with *The Lion King* storyline. Pump it up with air. Now you have *Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa*." John Anderson gave the film 3½ approval rating and stated "*Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa*, the sequel to the enormously successful DreamWorks adventure and a film that hews close to the whole *Lion King*/species-as-destiny/self-fulfillment paradigm."

### Box office

On its opening day, the film grossed $17,555,027 from 4,056 theaters with a $4,328 average. It went to be at No. 1 at the box office with $63,106,589 with $15,559 average per theater. As of March 19, 2009, it achieved a gross of $180,010,950 (29.8% of total gross) in the United States and Canada along with a gross of $423,889,404 (70.2%) in other regions adding to a worldwide gross total of $603,900,354.

## Songs

* The Traveling Song - will.i.am
* I Like To Move It - will.i.am
* Big And Chunky - will.i.am
* More than a Feeling - Boston
* She Loves Me - will.i.am
* Copacobana (at the Copa) - Barry Manilow
* Best Friends - will.i.am
* Alex on the Spot - will.i.am