Several computer-animated films that have received a blockbuster release such as Toy Story (1995), Shrek (2001), and The Incredibles (2004), and sequels have also driven in a large chunk of money.  Most CGI animations have been exceptional in their narratives, thus why not make another animated film with the help of computers.  However, Madagascar lacks some of the brilliant storytelling that has gone hand-in-hand with CGI films.  Unfortunately, most of the film tends to build on previously applied humor, and an exaggerated amount of slapstick humor.  After awhile the silly tripping and slams in the face become an uninspiring event of repetitive thinking and mere time fillers in the featured film.

Despite the negative aspects, there is still some greatness within the film, as the four animals Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) begin their journey into the unknown.  The caricature of the quartet is terrific, as the Alex superego emerges in the gifts he gives his friends and the overwhelmingly hysterical hypochondriac Melman.  The best part in the film is the four scheming penguins that are on a mission to return to the snowy widths of Antarctica, and the meeting with Sacha Baron Cohen a.k.a. Ali G’s lemur persona King Julien XIII.

The story opens with an amusing dream sequence where Marty dreams of his personal paradise in the wilderness, as he is racing towards a small lake.  Alex, who also chased him in the dream, shatters this dream.  It is an amusing comparison between the dream and reality, as Marty’s reality consists of having a lion as a friend while in the dream Alex was chasing him.  Furthermore, it suggests the idea of a twisted sense of reality that Marty and the other zoo animals possess.  To broaden the concept of twisted reality, it might serve as an analogical perspective of humanity’s la-la land vision of life’s permanence and the idea of existential safety.  However, this is to stretch the artistic process of the computer-animated zoological journey into an intellectual domain, which illustrates a number of interesting concepts in the light of Darwin where the strongest survive.

Marty decides to make his dream reality, as he escapes to explore the world.  Actually he intends to explore New York and maybe a little of what lays beyond the city borders.  However, his three friends intend to find him and return him to the safety of the zoo while they all are unaware of humans true feelings of wild animals, in particular lions.  To their dismay, they learn that they are returning to Africa, as society deems that they belong in their natural habitat.  However, after an accident relating four penguins involved in a large ship hijacking, the quartet lands on the beaches of Madagascar.  Several different emotions flush through them such as anger, fear, panic, happiness, and hope, as they try to get their bearings on the life in the wild.  It is amusing to see how they handle the new situation, as they mostly appear like people visiting a foreign culture.  The quartet’s narrow-minded comments to King Julien and his entourage is compared to Californians having a P. Diddy party, which is understandable as it is all they know.

Ultimately, Madagascar delivers comic relief to both young and old, even though this film will most likely be more entertaining to the younger viewers with its high level of slapstick humor.  Compared to other recent films with CGI animation Madagascar does not succeed in delivering an equally impressive storyline, yet it clearly finishes above an average cinematic experience.  There are both hits and misses within the story.  It is obvious that it will entertain an audience, but it misses a story with thorough substance from beginning to the end and it hurts the overall cinematic experience.

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USA

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