Madagascar 2

Directors: Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath

Voices used: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Bernie Mac, Sherri Shepherd, Alec Baldwin, Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon and will.i.am

Showing at: Big Cinemas, CityPride, E-Square, Gold Big Cinemas, Inox

Verdict: **1/2

What happens when a New Yorker lion, along with his best buddies, crash-lands in the vast expanses of Africa? Some wild, wild jungle fun with a dash of Yankee revelry. The groovy beats, hip dance moves (you can’t help but shake your booty to will.i.am and Hans Zimmer’s I like to move it, move it — a holdover from the first film) and the vivid images beckon you in this latest animation flick from DreamWorks. But other than that the sequel to Madagascar (2005) doesn’t offer unlimited crazy fun.

Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa retains the familiar voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Sacha Baron Cohen. The characters are cute but not particularly striking. Cohen’s Indian singsong talk is attractive and adds quirkiness and charm to King Julien’s character, the lemur king who is the spirit and soul of anarchy.     

With a little background info on how Alex (Ben Stiller) reaches Central Park and how he and his friends are marooned in Madagascar, Madagascar 2 takes off with some dizzying and zooming shots of Alex and Co. on a flight led by a crew of smart penguins. With one engine on fire, they crash land in the African savannah where the zoo-bred animals get to meet their wild counterparts. Also, Alex is reunited with his mom and dad.

But Alex can only be accepted in the pride if he passes the jungle test. Makunga (Alec Baldwin), an old rival of Zuba, Alex’s dad, plays his game and makes sure that the city-bred Alex is banished from the forest. Zuba (Bernie Mac), the king of the jungle, has to relinquish his throne. That Alex and his dad risk their lives to save the plains from drying up and their brethren from dying is another matter.

Madagascar 2 is charming in parts, but not dazzling. Marty (Chris Rock), the neurotic zebra who can’t decide whether he’s black with white stripes or vice versa, the hypochondriac zebra Melman (David Schwimmer) and the saucy cold Hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) are entertaining. Stiller, however, is not luminous or fierce as the big cat. He is too meek and humble. Perhaps that’s what the message is: Keep an animal in captivity and he loses touch with reality.

Madagascar 2 is a colourful animation, which has its wacky moments, but the script could have been much better.