| MADAGASCAR |
 2005 - USADirectors: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
- Reviewed by Linda
Lemur lips and bitch-slapping penguins. Those were my two favorite things about the latest big-studio CGI-animation Madagascar. What about the main characters? The critters with the voices of the big stars? Chris Rock? Ben Stiller? Jada Pinkett-Smith? Nope. It was the flambouyant King Julien of the Lemurs (voiced by hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen), with his jaunty posture, soft fur, and smiling black-lemur-lips. And the penguins? Anyone who has seen Wallace and Gromit's The Wrong Trousers knows that a penguin can be more sinister and scheming than any, well, run-of-the-mill chicken. Merely side-characters, the bumbling pack of fowl had me peeking around the corners of the screen, hoping for another appearance. And that kind of says a lot about Madagascar. When supporting characters steal the show, the movie-makers should maybe reconsider shelling out the big bucks that I'm sure those big names demanded. Ben Stiller is Alex the Lion, a King of the Jungle cat... the jungle being the Central Park Zoo. He preens and poses for the crowds, and gives Alex zoo memorabilia to his best friend Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock) for his birthday. But Marty doesn't want another snow globe... he wants to go to The Wild. Through lots of discussion and eavesdropping on humans for directions, and seemingly endless soul-searching (this introductory part takes a surprisingly long time to get rolling), finally Marty and Alex, along with pals Melman the Giraffe (typically mopey David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) make their break. Through mishaps and confusion, capture and escape, they all end up drifting at sea in crates, and wash up on the short of the jungle paradise of Madagascar. Now, the main characters were fine, but with the arrival of the native lemurs and goofy King Julien (who won my heart by referring to Alex as "plushy"), things spark up. In fact, these characters are so enjoyable, you find yourself getting restless and bored with Alex's never-ending struggle to avoid eating his best friends, that, well, you kind of wish that his part of the movie would just move to the side. After awhile, instead of actually listening to Alex, I found myself thinking about running my fingers through the pads of his perfectly-created plushy paws, just to test how real the fur felt. There is much to like about Madagascar. The script is amusing and often quite clever—fun enough for the adults that will inevitably be dragged along to it (or forced to watch it 10 times a day on DVD), but also being enjoyable for kids. Madagascar, thankfully, doesn't resort to potty humor, and it gets points for not having a Smash Mouth song in the soundtrack. But if I were to run out and buy a soft doll of one of the characters (and you KNOW there will be tons of merchandise tie-ins), I wouldn't be rifling through the store to find Alex or Marty or Gloria. I want Julien. He may not be the most advanced primate in the family tree, but he certainly has the style and confidence to think he is. And I like that in a plushy. |
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