Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa, rated PG for some mild crude humor, 1 hour, 29 minutes long
DreamWorks Animation’s MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA Synopsis
All of the loveable characters are back – Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo, King Julien, Maurice and the penguins – in MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA. They find themselves in the wildest place of all – the vast plains of Africa – where our zoo-raised crew encounter species of their own kind for the very first time. While discovering their roots, they quickly find the differences between the concrete jungle and the heart of Africa. Despite long-lost relatives, romantic rivals and scheming hunters, Africa seems like a great place...but is it better than their Central Park home?I watched this Thursday, the Blu-Ray edition and I absolutely LOVED it! IMO, it was better than the first.
I like the way it started off, with Alex (voiced by Ben Stiller) as a cub and how he ended up on his way to New York, where he became “the King of New York” and there were flashbacks to the first movie. This would be helpful for someone who never saw Madagascar, or a great refresher for people like me. You know, I’ve seen it, but it was a while ago.
Chris Rock once again rocks as Marty, the zebra. It’s especially fun when he meets his “kind” once on the Serengeti. Alec Baldwin is funny evil (was he ever anything else?) as Makunga, with the great mane. Bernie Mac (*sad*) was Zuba, Alex’s father and Sherri Shepherd as Alex’s mom, ever suffering the silliness of her husband (hey, all you married women out there, can ya relate?)
There was romance (Gloria, Melman and Moto Moto
), adventure, comedy, this flick has it all.
The visual effects were wonderful, the music catchy (just try to hold your butt still while hearing “I like to move it, move it!”), and the entire package was highly entertaining.
The extras were good, the Blu-Ray edition has commentary where you can watch the commentators commentating (The Animators Corner). Watch their faces as they watch the movie and discuss it. See pictures of the storyboard as the movie progresses. And at the same time, you can have trivia pop-ups, which I always like after I’ve seen the movie once without.
I found the “making of” extras interesting. Watching the crew in Africa, scoping out sights and seeing the real thing and hearing how they felt about what they saw, made me appreciate the effort that was put into the making of this movie, making it as realistic as possible.
Then you get to see how difficult it was to get everything just right. Like the dust (all the different forms!), the tall grass, so much of the computer generated images that you never even take into consideration when watching the movie, how intricate it all is. Just amazing. I also like the trip to the zoo. Those lemurs are noisy. *lol* I have to admit, it was educational for me.
There are Easter Eggs on this DVD, but I haven’t figured out how to access them yet. *lol* Hey, I was putting a printer cart together, I’m not much of a multi-tasker.
Anyway, all paws up for this flick. Adult or child, it’s one you’ll want to watch over and over.
(Hey, did ya know that Disney and Dreamworks are gonna be buds? Sounds like a match made in heaven!)
But wait! I'm not done yet!
I've got more to say!
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