Madagascar (2005)

2.5 out of 4

Starring: voices of Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter

Director: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath

Time: 86 mins

Viewed: in home theatre

Middling entry in the genre of computer animated features, falling below the classics of Pixar and even Dreamworks' own Shrek franchise. A group of animals from Central Park Zoo (Rock as a zebra, Stiller as a lion, Pinkett Smith as a hippo and Schwimmer as a giraffe) inadvertently find themselves on the island of Madagascar after Marty the zebra dreams of wandering into the wild. There they find a party of partying lemurs, who look upon them as God-like protectors against a pack of hyenas, while Alex the lion starts to get visions of everyone as a fat, juicy steak. How will they get out of this predicament? Thankfully short film has some laugh-out lines (that only adults will get), but weak story and frequent patches of slowness dim the welcome. Schwimmer has the best material and character as a hypochondriac giraffe.

(c) Joe Wong (1 January 2006)