Madagascar 2

It's hard to say if is an improvement or not on the original, but it's certainly a good continuation of the story this time more focused on Alex's origin and life. The animation looks great, the humor is on point of course, and the characters with so much more development. With some great moments is a fun sequel to all ages!

This movie really will give you a good laugh. It is about a new adventure of the four friends: Alex the lion, Melman the giraffe, Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo. On the trip back to New York, they had an air crash and came to Africa instead. There, they found their roots and also came across some difficulties. In this movie, there are many supporting roles. And among them, the four little penguins played an important part and even covered the other main roles for their genius and humor. From the very beginning, the four penguins spoofed the DreamWorks icon. As for their popularity, the DreamWorks even planned to make a film about the Madagascar Penguins. I'm really looking forward to it. In this movie, the film makers pictured us an amazing Africa with wild animals and beautiful landscapes. The visual effects are pretty good and impressing. And I like the theme song "Move It", really making me full of energy and feel the desire of dancing with the characters. The last scene when Marty said that "Love has no boundary", I can't agree more. And I think that this does not only apply to love between lovers but also apply to love between friends and family. All in all, this is quite a funny movie and worth watching.

I am a fan of the first Madagascar film, I know there are a lot of people who dissed it, but I thought it was cute. So when I saw the trailer for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, I was excited. I saw it on Friday and I absolutely enjoyed this fun family film. I think this even had a more coherent plot as well, plus how could you not love the penguins? They are absolutely hilarious and need their own movie, maybe a Full Metal Jacket with penguins! Anyways, I loved the characters so much, they're back and better than ever. They even ended up giving the little old lady from the first Madagascar who fought Alex the Lion, she has a bigger role and was so awesome to watch and listen too. I think the jokes were even funnier than the first Madagascar, my favorite scene without a doubt was the plane sequence in the beginning. But the whole story was just a blast to watch.

Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman are still looking to go back to Africa, everything seems to be a good and they start to fly back with the penguins as well as Julien. But the plane runs out of fuel and crashes, they are still in Africa, but bump into an animal pack where Alex finds his long lost parents, Marty finds out that all zebras are like him(imagine being surrounded by 1,000 Chris Rocks*shudder*), Gloria has a hunky hippo who is crushing on her, and Melman becomes the giraffe witch doctor of his group. Alex is about to be initiated into his pride, but one lion does not want him part of the group and will do anything to become leader.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is definitely worth your watch, it's not the animated film of the year, but it was a lot of fun to watch. It kind of reminded me of The Lion King a little bit, it has a similar story. It's a great family film and is fun for both the kids and the adults as well. Although I still think it's funny that Alex is voiced by Ben Stiller and his dad is voiced by Bernie Mac, but it's all good, who knows, maybe Alex's dad just had a little more soul in him. I would recommend this film, it was a lot of fun to watch and I suggest we write in a script for those penguins! They're a blast to watch on screen.

7/10

Just saw this at a discount movie theater ($2.50 a seat) and that's about what it's worth. Don't watch it expecting some major innovative work of art - it isn't, nor was it meant to be. It's purely fun fluff.

Without a doubt, the penguins steal the show. Their banter and antics are just downright hysterical. Granny on the other hand, needs to be retired. A cameo of her might have been funny, but she is overused to the point of irritation.

The ill-fated aircraft ride is a raucous ride, but after that the story splits into four or five (at least) concurrent sub-plots, so enough time isn't really given to each, and the pacing tends to jerk along in spurts. Basically it seems as if the filmmakers just strung together scenes of the funniest supporting characters from the original then tried to wrap it around a Lion King send-up.

All that said, I actually liked this one better than the original. Not every movie is intended to be a piece of ground-breaking cinematic artistry and this certainly isn't. But it IS just downright fun to watch. Now if Dreamworks would just give the penguins their OWN full-length picture...

The first Madagascar was a colourful and above average animated movie. I saw its sequel last night for the first time, not sure not to expect, and I was surprised. It actually lives up to the first pretty much (and almost surpasses it), it isn't as zany in terms of humour to its original despite some very clever references, but it has more heart than the first film did. Of course the plot is very predictable and I did notice one or two similarities with the Lion King, and probably slower than pace. But it is well the watch, for a number of reasons. The animation was beautiful and very colourful, even more so than the original. The characters are still great, the penguins were great fun, but Julien was absolutely hilarious here. The voice actors bring a lot of vigour into the film, Jada Pinkett Smith has more to do here, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock provide great comedy and heart and Sacha Baron Cohen is a hoot as Julien. Plus there is a sweet romantic interlude between Melman and Gloria. All in all, a fun sequel that lives up to the first. 7/10 Bethany Cox