|
Four pampered zoo animals—Alex the Lion (voice by Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock),
Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith)—are good friends who have never known what it is like to live in the wilds. Highlights of
their days are visits from zoo loving people, especially students on field trips, because these allow them to show off their stuff. Alex as King of the Zoo, in particular, roars
with delight to an adoring and awed audience, and with a daily diet of prime steaks he can not ask for anything more. But not Marty the Zebra who longs and daydreams of
living it up in the wilds where he feels he belongs. Misinformed by the giraffe that the wild can be found in Connecticut, Marty manages to escape one night to take the
train to Connecticut. His three friends catch up with him and the quartet of four-legged friends turn New York upside down. They are captured, crated and shipped off
to an animal refuge in Africa, but due to a mutiny led by rebellious penguins, their cages tumble off into the sea and they are washed ashore in Madagascar.
Madagascaris a
delightful animated comedy that has wit and style but, sadly, only for the first half, when the animals sound, because they think, like people. With "Born Free" as
background music, they express very human emotions: boredom from routine, wanderlust as they look at the stars, pleasure from parties and performing before an audience,
camaraderie over the acceptance of their fate (for instance, being resigned to walking on a tread mill for their daily exercise), etc. Together with creative visuals, this
makes for an interesting and engaging beginning. But the sizzle fizzles out once they reach Madagascar—the movie doesn't seem to know what do to further with the
animals. It becomes slapstick, relying on sight gags for laughs, sending the story into oblivion.
While visually proving itself enjoyable to both children and adults, Madagascar
tries to goad older viewers to reflect upon the human condition in the urban jungle by identifying with the animal characters. The value most stressed in Madagascar
is friendship. It shows how far friends would go to in order to save another. But back to back with its emphasis on friendship, the movie also subtly poses the question: When the animal nature prevails, will friendship hold? To wit—when Alex hungers for his New York steaks in the wilds, he begins to see his friends as fresh meat.
(Date Reviewed: 17 June 2005)
|
