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In the
picture
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa***
*ing: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett
Smith, Bernie Mac and Sacha Baron Cohen
Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
Tagline: The crate escape
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of a sequel to Madagascar had fans of the film waiting excitedly.
After all, the 2005 release was highly exhilarating and spawned quite
a fan following. |
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However,
sequels are rarely as interesting as the first versions. Mission Impossible
II did better than the MI3, Mummy 2 completely failed at the box office,
Spiderman did better than its sequel and so did and The Matrix and
Predator. It's probably because the first version raised the bar so
high that expectations from the sequel can't be met. But gladly Madagascar:
Escape 2 Africa has proved the curse of the sequel wrong and is as
good as its predecessor. It has an intriguing storyline with witty
situations and of course our favourite characters.
The story of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa takes up from where Madagascar
left off. The original story is about four animals Alex the Lion,
Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo who end up
uprooted from the Central Park Zoo in New York which they know and
love, and end up in Madagascar by mistake. They are accompanied by
four penguins from New York as well - and while they have a great
time there they want to go back to the Big Apple.
Escape 2 Africa opens with the scene that the penguins have repaired
an old wrecked plane and are preparing to fly Alex (Ben Stiller),
Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer) and Gloria (Jada Pinkett
Smith) back to New York. Along for the ride are a posse of lemurs,
including the overbearing alpha Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his
aye-aye sidekick Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer). |
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Unfortunately
- or fortunately for the plot - the plane only has enough gas to make
it to the African savannah, the very place from which young Alex was
kidnapped by hunters as a cub (voiced in flashback by Ben Stiller's
toddler son Quinlan). It's there he meets his father, Zuba (Bernie
Mac), the leader of the pack and his mother (Sherri Shephard).
The interaction between Alex and his father and the presence of an
evil lion, Makunga (Alec Baldwin), who wants to take over Zuba's position
brings back memories from The Lion King. Well, though Alex is not
Simba but he is as lovable as Simba was… after all he can sing,
dance and make you laugh!
The four friends find their roots in Africa and are really glad to
be back 'home' but it proves to be problematic to every single one
of the zoo expats. Being a trained dancer isn't much help for Alex
in the wild where his father wants him to be like other lions - strong
and wild! Marty finds being part of a herd of look alikes (all voiced
by Rock) is deeply injurious to his sense of self, Melman remains
troubled by his unreciprocated love for Gloria and Gloria is excited
and finally bored by the heart throbs of hippos, Moto Moto (will.i.am)
who is going out with Gloria. All the characters are well knitted
with hilarious dialogues and amusing body language. |
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Madagascar:
Escape 2 Africa focuses more on the Alex-Marty friendship and the
Gloria-Melman love story. Alex has always been the star of New York
through his dance performances and when he had to 'perform' in the
jungle; it turns out to be a wrestling ring, not a dance competition.
Too bad for the 'king' of New York! Even Marty walks out of their
friendship because Alex couldn't differentiate between him and the
other zebras. This is one of the best scenes from the movie.
On the contrary, Melman can't gather the courage to confess his love
for Gloria and becomes sick. He is sure that he will die soon and
in the midst of this mayhem the two comes closer. The trip that was
supposed to be a vacation for them turns out disastrous. But hey,
it neither gets boring nor lame. Amidst all the mishaps and fights,
the movie holds its share of comic scenes and succeeds in holding
it up with grace. |
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King Julian and the granny, who hates Alex and calls him 'a naughty
kitty', are definite show stealers. The rest of the supporting cast,
with the special mention of penguins, is extremely entertaining too.
Ben Stiller is again the 'King' of the movie while Chris Rock is a
perfect best friend. Though Chris (Marty) had a stronger character
in the first version, he was able to make his presence felt with the
relatively small but important part. David Schwimmer was as meek and
sweet as ever, and Jada Pinkett Smith was a complete woman in every
sense from flirting to planning a future life. The other characters
that definitely deserve praise are Sacha Baron Cohen and the late
Bernie Mac.
A disclaimer though: if you think you won't be addicted to the Madagascar
tune this time, you are wrong. By the end of the movie you will definitely
be jiving along to 'I like to move it move it/ He likes to move it
move it/ She likes to move it move it/ We like to… move it!'
-- Fatima Zakir
*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME
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