Rated PG for some mild crude humor.
Recommended for ages 5 and up
Run Time: 89 minutes
Quick Take: A jungle tale that's literally escapist will have kids going wild with laughter, and give parents some warm fuzzies, too.
The Story: Alex the lion spent his childhood in Africa, until an accident separated him from his family and sent him to live at the Central Park Zoo. After his goofy exploits in Madagascar, the now-grown lion arrives unexpectedly in Africa (he and his friends were trying to fly Air Penguin back to New York) and is startled to find his parents still alive. After an initial warm welcome, Alex and friends discover that years of zoo pampering have left them unprepared for the wild. An evil uncle further complicates matters. Can Alex save his family and make it back to New York?
Good If You Liked: Madagascar, The Jungle Book, The Lion King
Heads Up: Opening scenes of Alex being separated from his dad -- and dad's presumed death -- may disturb some kids. Watering-hole love scenes between Gloria and her paramour Moto Moto are surprisingly racy, with Will.i.am infusing loverboy with a startlingly seductive voice. On the upside, Gloria's realization that Moto only loves her for her body --"You're huge," he keeps repeating in his ridiculously sensual tone -- brings home the absurdity of loving someone just for their appearance. King Julien frequently teeters on the brink of off-color, but he is voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen. One battle between grandma and Alex includes a hilarious albeit inappropriate move that you'll want to counsel kids not to replicate.
Kids Go Wild for Madagascar's Monkey (and Lion, and Zebra, and Hippo) Business
If you look too hard at Ben Stiller's new Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, you might notice it doesn't make much sense.
My advice? Don't look too hard.
One of the gleeful fringe benefits of a Madagascar movie is its unabashed, unselfconscious silliness. A vegetarian lion. Carjacking penguins. A hippo love story in which the romantic lead flirtatiously asks, "Who's your friend? Or, is that your butt?" Sensible? Where's the fun in that?
Follow up to the hit 2005 original Madagascar, Escape 2 Africa finds Alex the lion and company (Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo, and Melman the giraffe) flying to New York, but detoured after a crash lands them instead in Africa (note to self: never fly Air Penguin). "Our ancestral crib!" exclaims Marty.
Beautifully realized, Escape 2 Africa is principally about Alex, and his unexpected reunion with his long-lost parents, a meeting that goes south when mom and dad realize their heir apparent won't be taking over the family biz running the pride. Years as a kept kitty in New York have reduced Alex's lion mojo, and when the would-be King of the Jungle goes to slay his audience, he's thinking soft shoe and a show tune -- not, say, actually slaying. While Alex tries to save face with his folks, Melman investigates his calling as a witch doctor, Marty discovers a herd of identically striped soul mates, and Gloria pursues love in a manner that had to be inspired by a Barry White video.
Though there's not much new here, fans of the original won't be disappointed. Non-sequiturs fly fast and furiously à la Airplane, with a penguin wooing a hula doll one minute, monkeys in union negotiations the next. You don't have to look too closely for Lion King influences, right down to the stripe in the evil lion's mane. There are some genuinely big laughs, and the glee is infectious, even when the movie mines too-predictable territory such as "tastes like chicken" jokes. Most importantly is the appeal for the target audience. The real measure of a family movie's success, after all, is not filling seats -- but keeping kids in them. On that count, Escape 2 Africa mostly delivers, wowing kids, many of whom called it even better than the first. Nine-year-old Patrick raved, giving it five stars, declaring, "It was funny and emotional at the same time."
Me? I'm still stuck on how a lion could be best friends with a zebra -- isn't that like playing with your food?
But then, that's probably thinking way too hard.
Kids Will Like:
In the spirit of the Road Runner and the Coyote, kids love the wacky old lady from the first Madagascar movie, an old bitty who continues to cross paths with our heroes. "I liked when the grandma beats up the lion," said Tommy, 11. Visual jokes in general floated their boats, such as the hilarious plane takeoff and the hapless lemur. Don't underestimate their ability to keep up with the more subtle jokes, though. Both Tommy and his 9-year-old brother Patrick got the gags about the monkeys. And Patrick really appreciated Alex's eventual bonding with his father, Zuba.
Parents Will Like:
CG animation makes Alex et al so fuzzy and adorable, it's impossible not to love them, especially the opening scenes with little Alex and his dad. An eclectic soundtrack includes the emblematic "I Like to Move It," plus a little "West Side Story," "Born Free," and "Copacabana." The penguins are hilariously clueless.
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