Movie Review
by Kevin Carr
| ***1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Ben Stiller as ALEX THE LION Chris Rock as MARTY THE ZEBRA David Schwimmer as MELMAN THE GIRAFFE Jada Pinkett Smith as GLORIA THE HIPPO Sacha Baron Cohen as JULIAN Cedric the Entertainer as MAURICE Andy Richter as MORT Rated PG Opens May 27, 2005 Studio: DreamWorks Directed by: Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath Back to Movie Review Home Read more of Eric's reviews at www.permierereviews.com. |
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Laughs the Law of Madagascar’s Jungle
While the folks down at Pixar have been duly anointed the kings of computer animation, rival factions at DreamWorks have been working feverishly to usurp their throne. Despite a more liberal approach to family friendly cinema (we can easily recall the light profanities of Antz and the suggestiveness of the Shrek films), DreamWorks animation projects are still, for the most part, playing second fiddle to super smooth Pixar blockbusters such as The Incredibles. DreamWorks’ latest film, Madagascar, will do little to close the gap, but still delivers more than enough laughs to make any family’s trip to the Cineplex a worthwhile experience.
Madagascar’s formula is simple and now very familiar. Assemble a cast voice actors with highly recognizable names - in this case Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett-Smith - tie them to impressively animated CGI characters, shake in a kid-friendly storyline or two and viola; a 100 million dollar hit. It’s territory that’s tried and true, but once again, it works like a charm.
With this release, DreamWorks sticks with what it does best, rolling out another animal-themed yarn to go alongside Chicken Run, Shark Tale, and Shrek. This time the story revolves around an unlikely friendship between predator and prey; an adventurous zebra named Marty and a steak-munching lion named Alex. Accompanied by a jiggly hippo named Gloria and a germaphobic giraffe named Melman, they become animal castaways on a tropical isle, where they not only receive the culture shock of their lives but a rude introduction to the law of the jungle.
Madagascar’s plot never ventures much farther than that. In fact, the film stretches about 20 minutes of actual story into 80 minutes of shenanigan-riddled filler. Fortunately, most of this filler is pretty entertaining.
As a general rule, good animated features always find a way to appeal to both kids and their adult guardians. Typically, this is handled through humorous allusion to the songs, movies, and icons of pop culture. In this regard, however, the makers of Madagascar reach back to days that might even please grandparents, harmonizing some good-humored goofiness with golden oldies such as “New York, New York” and “What A Wonderful World”.
Of course, the brunt of the comedy comes through heaps of slapstick revelry. Younger audiences will be dazzled by the scores of silly faces, sudden accidents, and non-stop clowning of every character. Particularly comical are the film’s quartet of penguins, whose addiction to stealth and underhandedness can satisfy anyone’s appetite for hilarity. The film is perhaps as clever as it is funny, in everything from its quiet mockery of stranded-at-sea movies to the oddly polite insults of King Julian the Lemur.
On the whole, Madagascar holds up better as a family-pleaser than either last year’s wannabe hip-hopera, Shark Tale, or this year’s shimmering bucket of bolts, Robots. Laughs, pure and simple, seem to be the only law of its jungle, even if it never goes much deeper than that.
