Madagascar (2005)

A group of animals who have spent all their life in a New York zoo end up in the jungles of Madagascar, and must adjust to living in the wild.

Directors:

Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath

Writers:

Mark Burton, Billy Frolick

Stars:

Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer

4 wins & 32 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Stiller	...	Alex (voice)
Chris Rock	...	Marty (voice)
David Schwimmer	...	Melman (voice)
Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Gloria (voice)
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Julien (voice)
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Maurice (voice)
Andy Richter	...	Mort (voice)
Tom McGrath	...	Skipper / Fossa / Panicky Man on Subway (voice)
Christopher Knights	...	Private (voice)
Chris Miller	...	Kowalski (voice)
Conrad Vernon	...	Mason (voice)
Eric Darnell	...	Zoo Announcer / Lemur #1 / Fossa / Subway Car Announcer (voice)
David Cowgill	...	Police Horse (voice)
Stephen Apostolina	...	Police Officer (voice) (as Steve Apostolina)
Elisa Gabrielli	...	Old Lady (voice)

Storyline

Longing to roam free in the vast landscapes of Mother Africa, Marty, the bored and dejected zebra of the famous Central Park Zoo, escapes his prison on the night of his tenth birthday celebration. However, after a botched rescue attempt by Marty's companions--Alex, the content lion; Melman, the skittish giraffe, and Gloria, the resolute hippo--the friends will find themselves crated up and shipped off to a remote wildlife preserve, only to end up on the sandy shores of exotic Madagascar. At last, Marty's dream will come true; nevertheless, what does it really mean to be a truly wild animal?

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Plot Keywords:

lemur | jungle | zoo | escape | madagascar | 

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Taglines:

Someone's got a zoo loose.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild language, crude humor and some thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Portuguese Spanish German French Greek

Release Date:

27 May 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Madagaskar

Filming Locations:

Glendale, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$61,012,130, 27 May 2005, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$193,595,521

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$532,680,671

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks Animation, Pacific Data Images (PDI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell and David Newman were originally attached as the film's composer, but were replaced by Hans Zimmer. A few weeks earlier, the opposite had occurred for another film: Gregson-Williams replaced Zimmer for the scoring duties of Kingdom of Heaven (2005). A year later, the other opposite occurred for a later film: Powell replaced Zimmer for the scoring duties of Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and Newman replaced Zimmer for unknown reasons.

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Goofs

When Skipper asks the talking monkey if he can read, he says that he can't read but Phil can. Earlier on in the film, the talking monkey takes what appears to be a newspaper from a trash can and starts reading it. However, if you look at the newspaper, it is actually a comic.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Alex the Lion: Surprise!
Marty the Zebra: Aaahhh! Alex! Do not interrupt me when I'm daydreaming. When a zebra's in the zone, leave him alone.

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Crazy Credits

The characters dance to King Julien's "I Like to Move It" throughout the first part of the closing credits.

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Alternate Versions

The UK version omits a partially uttered use of strong language to secure a U rating. International versions do not implement this cut, as filmmakers often put in single uses of strong language in otherwise-junior films to secure a higher rating in the US. When the film comes to be rated in the UK, the language has to be cut for a lower rating. See also 101 Dalmatians.

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Connections

Featured in Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday To You
Written by Mildred J. Hill (as Mildred Hill) & Patty S. Hill (as Patty Hill)

User Reviews

Wonderful...!

A wonderful movie for all ages.

This films really follows in the footsteps of recent animated blockbusters as Finding Nemo,Shrek, Monster Inc., The Incredibles, Ice Age etc. The story works very well, and it is obvious that the team behind is people who knows their media. It stays on the same course all the way through, something that really is the essence of the success of the animated films these last years, something other writers can really learn from. And that's all the comparison I will do, because it really is its own movie.

A wonderful thing about it is the references to other movies like The Planet of the Apes and American Beauty. Very obvious references I might add. This also means that the filmmakers are aware that a growing number of gross comes from adult audiences as well, and you then have to assume that the story is written for them as well.

The style of the movie is like we are use to in normal cartoons, just put into a new media. And it works very well, you're always aware of it, and yet you sit and really is in awe of the texture of for instance Marty(Chris Rock). The technique is definitely as is to be expected.

Hanz Zimmer, who's becoming a very well known man within the animated world, does a moderate good job, the music is there and really gives the effects it needs, but is just background. Directing is good, and all the characters works in their own way on the screen but are best together. There's a huge deal of very well timed jokes and they all somehow seems to work.

The characters are very amu... sorry, highly amusing. Chris Rock is almost best as voice(like in Dr. Doolittle), where Ben Stiller although he comes through still is more enjoyable as live action. But both of them are easily identified. Jada Pinkett is a bit to anonymous, and David Schwimmer is just great, although his character wins in being a good background joke. Now for the minor characters, as often with these films, the minor characters gets a way with so much attention they deserve a little more attention. The three penguins are awesome, and is the ideal kick starters for this movie. They deliver almost nothing but laughs. The king of the wild Julien(Mr. Ali G) is fun, although without his sidekick Maurice(Cedric) he would be nothing. And then there's the two monkeys also very enjoyable. One minor thing is to me that in seems that the Sabletooth tigers from Ice Age seems to have been copy-pasted into this movie for action, a bit sad but nothing that the movie itself doesn't salvage.

I would rank it among the top ten movies of this year, it is very fun and works very well in most ways. 8/10