Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Directors:

Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath

Writers:

Etan Cohen (written by)
Eric Darnell (written by)

Release Date:

7 November 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Still together. Still lost!

Plot:

The sequel to 2005's "Madagascar", in which New York Zoo animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo...

Plot Keywords:

Zoo | Madagascar | Lion | Africa | Zebra

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Ben Stiller	...	Alex (voice)
Chris Rock	...	Marty / Additional Zebras (voice)
David Schwimmer	...	Melman (voice)
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Gloria (voice)
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Julien (voice)
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Maurice (voice)
Andy Richter	...	Mort (voice)
Bernie Mac	...	Zuba (voice)
Alec Baldwin	...	Makunga (voice)
Sherri Shepherd	...	Mom (voice)
Will i Am	...	Moto Moto (voice) (as Will.I.Am)
Elisa Gabrielli	...	Nana (voice)
Tom McGrath	...	Skipper / Lemur #1 (voice)
Chris Miller	...	Kowalski (voice)
Christopher Knights	...	Private (voice)

Also Known As:

Madagascar 2 (USA) (working title)
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)
Madagascar: The Crate Escape (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild crude humor.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS | Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #44773) | UK:PG | Finland:K-7 | Ireland:G | Singapore:G | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Australia:PG | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Portugal:M/4 (dubbed version) | Portugal:M/6 (original version) | Malaysia:U | Hong Kong:I | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | New Zealand:PG | Peru:PT | Brazil:Livre | Taiwan:GP | Netherlands:6 | Norway:7 | Mexico:AA

Company:

DreamWorks Animation

Trivia:

When the airplane takes flight, Alex looks out the window and sees Mort on the wing, messing with the engine. This is an homage to the classic "The Twilight Zone" (1959) episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" featuring a young William Shatner. It was also used in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) "segment 4", starring John Lithgow.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene where the penguins steal the tour jeep, the tour guide has no gun yet he has one when the humans pick up the old lady after the penguins leave with the jeep.

Quotes:

Gloria: Is this place great or what?
Alex: I'm going with "or what".

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Soundtrack:

I Like To Move It

Better than the original

I thought that the first Madagascar had promising characters and a decent premise, but it was very poorly put together. My son, who was 8 or 9 at the time loved the movie, however. We saw the sequel this morning and we both agreed - it was much better than the original. And, since part II begins with a brief summary of part I, there is no need to see the first one to understand what's happening in the new movie. All the main characters are back and there are many new ones as well. Going in, the big question on my mind was "do the penguins play a bigger role in the sequel?"... answer is "Yes, but not much bigger". All in all an enjoyable movie that outshines it's predecessor!