“Madagascar” (2005) was one of the best animated movies of that year. “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” is not as good as the original because, for one thing, it’s a little too serious.
Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman, and the rest of the characters from the original, return in this highly anticipated sequel. The story begins with the gang leaving Madagascar by plane in hopes of returning to New York City. But the plane crash lands in Africa, where the characters discover animal like themselves: Alex finds his parents; Marty meets a lot of zebras that look and talk exactly like him; and Gloria and Melman go looking for love and they eventually find it.
All of these storylines are interesting but they take the characters away from each other and so the scenes are not as funny. And there’s too much drama in the script: Alex trying to earn the respect of his father, Marty finding out that’s he not unique, and Melman and Gloria’s relationship issues. The original “Madagascar” was pure fun with big laughs. “2” is not as funny with too many sub-plots and not that many laughs.
On the positive side, the animation is stunning, some of the scenes of Africa are breathtaking. All of the voices are exceptional, including newcomers to the voice cast: Alec Baldwin and the late Bernie Mac.
“Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” is rated PG. There are a few scenes involving guns, many with the human character, Nana, from the first film. The movie is suitable for everybody. Nana, by the way, is in the movie way too much…and the penguins aren’t in it enough.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” gets a B. It’s worth watching…but not great.
There’s talk that a “Madagascar 3” is in the works. If so, I hope the writers go back to the spirit of the original and leave the serious jungle scripts to “The Lion King.”
Lights Camera Jackson (a.k.a. Jackson Murphy) began his career as a film critic/entertainment reporter in 2006 at the age of 7. Jackson has written nearly 1,000 reviews of new releases. All together he has seen more than 1,500 films. In 2010, Jackson became the youngest person to win a NY Emmy Award, for his on-air movie reviews on Time Warner TV station, Capital News 9.
LCJ appears every Friday morning on WGNA-FM . His movie reviews are also posted on his website, his YouTube channel and the popular website Cultjer.com. He is also a contributing writer for Jerry Beck’s AnimationScoop.com. Jackson hosts the weekly internet pop culture news show “LCJ LIVE” (every Sunday at Noon ET). And “The LCJ Q&A Podcast” features interviews with celebrities and filmmakers.