When we last left our refugees from the New York zoo they’d been stranded in Madagascar and the militant penguins were working on their escape route. Now they’re all back, but still stranded. This time in the African wilderness, but there’s also a family reunion involved for one of our critters.
When he was a cub, Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) was the prince of the jungle. His father Zuba (Bernie Mac) is planning that Alekey; Alex’s given name, follow in his footsteps and become the alpha lion of their pride. Zuba’s brother Makunga (Alec Baldwin) wants that position though and is always thinking of ways to take it from his brother.
Some hunters disturb Zuba’s training session and Alekey is separated and ends up making his way to New York where he becomes the king of the concrete jungle and star of the show. When we last left the refugees from the New York zoo they had taken up with King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), but now Alex, Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) are trying to return to the big apple.
The militant penguins, Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), Private (Christopher Knights), and Mason (Conrad Vernon), have fashioned an airplane to get the zoo animals, King Julien, his servant Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer), and the unwanted Mort (Andy Richter) back to New York.
Well things don’t go as the penguins planned and the plane crash-lands in Africa. Alex is reunited with his parents, Melman becomes the giraffe’s witch doctor, Marty finds his own kind, and Gloria is romanced by hippo Moto Moto (Will.i.am).
The penguins hijack safari tour buses to get the parts needed to repair their plane, but the people they displace from the tours take up with Nana (Elisa Gabrielli) who has them fashioning civilization in the jungle and threatening the reserve inhabited by our heroes.
When your flick makes a ton of cash you can count on getting a sequel into theaters. Madagascar 2 suffers from the bloat that comes with having a “2” in your title. However, it does offer a funny continuation of the characters of the first film. There also seems to be quite a lot of famous voices behind the microphone with each character vying for screen time. So it does seem a bit crowded with every character trying to get their little moment in the sunshine.
However, each of them does get their moments and the voice cast seems to relish their animated counterparts. Alex probably gets the most “plot” out of the sequel, Marty finds that there are more like him in Africa but that maybe having so many duplicates might cause you to loose your identity, Melman the neurotic, hypochondriac finds that he’s a pretty good witch doctor until his fellow giraffes point out a spot and then he’s back to his old ways, and Gloria is being romanced by one of her own kind, but she has a secret admirer that longs for her but he’s too busy dealing with a phantom spot that he thinks is going to kill him.
The supporting cast also shines in the militant penguins (again getting a release of their own accompanying this DVD) and the wacky King Julien. At first I thought the film wasn’t going to grow on me, but as the plot moved on and the characters got into their groove I started to like the outlandish situations.
The Nana character does seem a bit much though and I didn’t think she needed her own subplot. It isn’t as good as the first one, what sequels are, but it is a fun ride into the jungle.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath. There’s also the 9 minute “It’s a Family Affair” about the voice cast, the 11 minute “The Making of Escape 2 Africa,” the 3 minute “Crash Landing” about that sequence, the 7 minute “African Adventure” about a scouting trip to Africa, and “Jambo Jambo” that teaches you some Swahili phrases.
The “Mad Music” section has 4 music videos, “Move It, Move It” (2 minutes), “Big and Chunky” (1 minute), “She Loves Me” (1 minute), and “The Traveling Song” (1 minute), and the DreamWorks Animated Jukebox which has songs from their other films.
You also get the “Test Flight of Air Penguin” game and trailers for other DreamWorks films. Some retailers will also have a two-pack that features another adventure of the penguins called, ironically enough, “The Penguins of Madagascar.” That disc also has special features including the 12 minute “The Heart of a Lion” about an African lion pride, an 8 minute tour of the Bronx Zoo Madagascar exhibit, the 3 minute “Alex’s Dance Off” showing Alex’s moves, and DVD-ROM activities.
Madagascar 2 is a fun continuation with our animal pals. They still don’t make it back to civilization, but they have a good time trying too. I’m pretty sure that we’ll be seeing them again on the silver screen.
Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa/Nick Penguins 2-Disc Move It, Move It, Double DVD Pack is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for an April 6th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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