Friday, Nov. 07, 2008

'Madagascar' sequel: Escape 2 Africa

By Gary Wolcott, atomictown.com

Madagascar: Escape to Africa is the sequel to 2005’s Madagascar which is basically a clone of The Wild.

Both films came out the same year. Sans innovations like effects that redefine state-of-the-art, inventive characters and the imaginative scripts of better-animated features, it is hard to remember much about either.

So unless you bought one or both DVDs and your children watch them endlessly, most of you are not going to remember which is which either. Gratefully writer/directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath are smart enough to know you might be confused so they recap what happened to Alex the show-off lion and his friends Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo in the previous episode. During the recap they also cleverly set up the story of Escape 2 Africa. The characters leave Madagascar via airplane headed back for New York. A crash-landing takes Alex back to the place of his birth.

In Africa Alex and his friends rediscover their roots. Something in the African plain feels like home—or is it? To go deeper spoils the plot even though what passes for a plot doesn’t go very deep. Vanilla through and through there is practically no demand for a sequel. That goes for The Wild, too. So that leaves only one conclusion as to why you’re seeing a sequel to Madagascar: money.

Almost as boring as Escape 2 Africa’s plot is the vocal talent selected to bring these characters to life: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedrick the Entertainer and Bernie Mack.

What is hard to figure is why Darnell and McGrath, such as Ice Age creator Chris Wedge, continue to push such lame characters when the true scene-stealers don’t get enough screen time. Wedge’s Scrat is hilarious and Madagascar’s flock of Mafioso penguins will crack you up.

Not much else will.

Mr. Movie rating: 3 stars

Rated PG for some mature themes. It opens November 7 at the Carmike 12 and Fairchild Cinemas 12.

5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it's your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on video.
2 stars to 1 star: Don't bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.