Madagascar (USA) (DreamWorks) (2005) ***Year: 2005iMDB
Director: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath Cast: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith
Given the relative small number of animated feature films, every new animated movie is bound to be compared with the predecessors. Therefore DreamWorks Animation must not only come up with a movie that will break out Shrek's shadow - their biggest success thus far, but following Pixar's 2004 hit The Incredibles is even tougher. At the same time, DreamWork's previous movie, Shark Tale, was a major flop, so their newest movie was bound to be better than that.
Madagascar, the tale of a group of animals that escape from the New York City zoo and find themselves stranded in the wilderness, an environment that they never experienced, raises clearly above Shark Tale and is mildly entertaining. Chris Rock is Marty the Zebra who yearns for freedom and treasures the life in the wilderness when they get there. Alex the Lion (played by Ben Stiller) on the other hand, was quite happy with his star position at the Zoo and all the benefits he had there. The best moments of Madagascar are provided by a group of crazy militaristic penguins who are hilarious in every scene they appear.
If you're yearning for a fun, light animation movie, go see Madagascar. If you have high expectations try Miyazaki's new movie "Howl's Moving Castle" instead.
Posted by TheCasualCritic on June 16, 2005 11:48 AM | TrackBack