Madagascar [25]

Of all the known actors performing voiceovers in this movie I like only one, Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays King Lemur Julien. He will be in the upcoming Borat movie. For all the rest I have lukewarm feelings. But they all have good voices that fit their parts.

There must be a visual or audio gag in this movie every 10 seconds. You have to watch repeatedly. I am sure since each scene is painstakingly created on the computer, there has to be at least one good gag. Even though the animals are rendered in 3D, they are still “cartoony” in the sense that the stretch and deform in funny ways. The top toddler gag is when Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) washed up on the beach, stands up, and a load of sand pours from his mouth. The top adult gag is the giant Statue of Liberty help beacon constructed by Alex. Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) ignites the whole statue. Alex parodies the Planet of the Apes final Statue of Liberty scene with the quote, “You maniac, you burnt the whole thing, darn you, Darn you to Heck!”

The penguins are great comedy relief in their own right. And they get their own short movie, The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper. They take the battle to the home of the old lady that repeatedly kicked Alex the lion in the groin.

This is a good kids movie. I was also introduced to the fossa (spelled foosa in the movie and properly pronounced that way.) The fossa is a cat like relative of the Mongoose. All the animation is spectacular. {BB}

Added: January 11th 2006
Reviewer: BB
29 Point Scale Score:    [25]

Related Link (IMDB): IMDB - Madagascar
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Language: english