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Growing older is never easy—not even for zoo animals. So when Marty (Chris Rock), the zebra in Central Park Zoo, turns 10, he experiences a mid-life crisis that gets him and his friends into a whole lot of trouble.
Convinced that he’s missed out on life, Marty decides to take a tip from the zoo’s psychotic penguins—who are planning to make a break for Antarctica—and break out of the zoo for a one-night adventure in “The Wild” (which, he figures, is probably in Connecticut—so all he’ll have to do is catch the north train out of Grand Central Station). His friends—Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer)—want nothing to do with his crazy plan, so while they’re asleep, Marty sneaks out. When his friends wake up to find Marty gone, they hurry off to rescue him.
When a group of activists gets wind of the zoo-break, they decide that the animals are truly longing for life back in “The Wild”—so they put Alex, Gloria, Melman, Marty, the penguins, and a couple of monkeys on a ship to Africa. During the journey, however, the penguins hijack the ship, and the four friends are thrown overboard. They land in Madagascar, where they come across a tribe of partying lemurs—and they begin to realize just how good they had it at the zoo.
With all the animated films flying to theaters, I think moviegoers have grown so accustomed to the same old kids’ movie that they’re starting to lose some of their novelty. Or maybe studios are cranking out kids’ movies with such breakneck speed that the quality is suffering. Whatever the case, Madagascar wasn’t as thrilling as I’d hoped. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I loved David Schwimmer as the hypochondriatic giraffe. I loved the psychotic penguins. I even loved the lemurs (and I couldn’t get that crazy song out of my head for days). But there just isn’t anything special about it. The story isn’t all that developed—and once the animals get to the island, not much happens. So there isn’t a dazzling, unforgettable story, and there aren’t any especially memorable characters.
That said, however, it’s still a fun movie that will keep the kids giggling—and you’ll get plenty of laughs out of it, too. It’s still worth checking out—even if it’s not as good as the kids’ movies they made in the good old days…
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