Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a
2008 sequel to the
2005 film
Madagascar, about the continuing
adventures of Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe,
and Gloria the Hippo. It is directed by
Eric Darnell and written by
Etan Cohen.
It stars the voices of
Ben Stiller,
Chris Rock,
David Schwimmer,
Jada Pinkett Smith,
Sacha Baron Cohen,
Cedric the Entertainer, and
Andy Richter. Also providing voices are
Bernie Mac,
Alec
Baldwin,
Sherri Shepherd and
will.i.am. It was produced by
DreamWorks Animation and distributed by
Paramount Pictures, and was
released on
November 7,
2008.
The film starts as a
prequel, showing a
small part of Alex's early life, including his capture by hunters.
It soon
moves to shortly after the point where the original left off, with
the animals deciding to return to New York
.
They board
an airplane in Madagascar
, but crash-land in Africa,
where each of the central characters meets others of the same
species; Alex is reunited with his parents. Problems arise,
and their resolution occupies much of the remainder of the
film.
The previous title was "Madagascar: The Crate Escape", which was
featured on a
teaser trailer with
Ben Stiller.
This, along with
Soul Men
(which was released on the same day as this movie,
November 7,
2008) and
Old Dogs (which was
released a year after this movie was released,
November 25,
2009), was
Bernie Mac's last film performance.
Therefore, the movie made a special dedication to the comedian
stating:
For our friend Bernie Mac, thanks for all the
laughter.
There were many cultural references in this film, one being
Sandy Koufax on the cover of a
Life magazine.
Plot
As a cub, Alex the Lion was called Alakay and was the son of Zuba,
the alpha lion. Though Zuba tries to teach Alakay to be a hunter,
the cub is more interested in dancing. When another lion named
Makunga challenges Zuba to a fight for the position of alpha lion,
Alakay is captured by poachers. Though Zuba tries to rescue his
son, Alakay is forced into a crate. Zuba is shot in the ear when he
tries to rescue Alakay. The crate falls into the ocean where it
drifts to New York. There, Alakay is renamed Alex and sent to the
Central Park Zoo where he grew up, meeting Marty, Melman, and
Gloria.
In the present time, Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien,
Maurice and Skipper and his fellow penguins board a repaired
airplane in the hopes of using it to fly back to New York. Mort
tries to board the plane but King Julien doesn't want him on board
and locks him outside. The plane takes off and starts with a
relaxing journey, Alex spots Mort clinging to the wing of the plane
and waves to him (causing Mort to wave back and fall off the wing
into the sea). The plane soon ends up crash-landing in continental
Africa when it runs out of fuel. In Africa the animals are amazed
to find more of their kind. Alex is reunited with Zuba and his
mother. Marty quickly fits into a herd of zebra who all look,
sound, and talk exactly like him. Melman takes on the position of
witch doctor amongst the animals.
Gloria, interested in finding a mate, attracts the attention of a
smooth-talking but shallow hippo named Moto Moto.
Meanwhile, the penguins set about repairing the plane. They carjack
several jeeps from New Yorkers on vacation, leaving the tourists
stranded and lost in the jungle. Taking charge of the group is
Nana, a tough old woman known for having beaten up Alex before he
was first shipped out of New York, reminding them that they are New
Yorkers and always survive.
The next morning Mort washes up on the shore of Africa and sets off
to find King Julien, only to be chased by a shark.
Unfortunately, life in Africa is not as wonderful as it first
seems. Makunga, still determined to take the position of alpha
lion, reminds Zuba that Alex must complete a traditional lion
coming-of-age challenge. Alex, thinking that the challenge is a
dance contest (it is actually a fight) competes against the
strongest lion, "Teetsie" (who was recommended by Makunga) and
loses quickly. To avoid being forced to banish Alex for failing,
Zuba is forced to abdicate and Makunga immediately takes the
position and banishes Alex and his family, much to Zuba's anger at
Alex. Marty, meanwhile begins to feel upset that all of the zebras
are exactly the same as him, leaving him with nothing unique.
Melman is happy as a witch doctor until he learns that he has the
same spot that had apparently caused the previous witch doctor to
die. Melman is also upset about Gloria dating Moto Moto, as Melman
has secretly loved her for a long time. Gloria goes on a date with
Moto Moto, in a lake, and quickly realizes that he only loves her
for her body.
The next day, the animals are in a panic when they discover that
the watering hole has dried up. Determined to make up for his
earlier failure, Alex and Marty decide to risk being shot by
hunters and leave the reserve to discover what happened. The pair
discover that the stranded New Yorkers, under the instruction of
Nana, have dammed the river and built a primitive civilization.
Alex is captured and Marty runs for help. Meanwhile, Zuba hears
from Makunga what Alex did and goes to rescue him.
King Julien suggests that the animals sacrifice one of themselves
into the volcano to appease the water gods and regain their water
supply. Believing that he will die soon, Melman volunteers to be
sacrificed. Gloria stops him just in time and Marty arrives to tell
them of Alex's fate. The trio, the penguins, and several
chimpanzees use the newly-fixed plane to come to the rescue. Alex
meanwhile manages to rescue both himself and his father by dancing
for the New Yorkers, who quickly recognize him from the zoo. The
other animals rescue the lions with the plane and destroy the dam,
freeing the water. Meanwhile, back at the volcano, King Julien
complains to Maurice about the sacrifice plan not working ("The
science seemed so solid"). Mort turns up and is overjoyed to see
King Julien, although Julien is less than thrilled to see him. The
shark that was chasing Mort also arrives but falls into the
volcano, completing the sacrifice (with Maurice saying "I hope the
gods like Seafood") and causing King Julien to think that
he brought back the water. As the watering hole restores,
Makunga angrily reminds Alex and Zuba that all this won't change
anything. However, Alex manages to remove Makunga from power by
tricking Nana into attacking him and she drags him back to the
other marooned tourists. Zuba makes Alex the alpha lion.
The movie
ends as Skipper marries a "bobble-head hula doll from the plane"
and leaves on a honeymoon in Monte Carlo
, leaving Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien,
and Maurice to happily remain in Africa with Alex's
parents.
Cast
Reception
The film has received mixed to positive reviews from critics.
Rotten Tomatoes reported that 65% of
critics based on 137 reviews with the consensus stating that
"
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is an improvement on the
original, with more fleshed-out characters, crisper animation and
more consistent humor." Another review aggretagor,
Metacritic classified the film into the
"generally favorable reviews" category with 61/100 approval rating
based on 24 reviews, also a bit higher a score than the
original.
Michael Phillips of the
Chicago
Tribune stated in his review that the film "goes easy on
the pop culture jokes, I should clarify: one of the smarter things
in the script is how Alex, who digs his
Bob
Fosse and
Jerome Robbins dance
moves, becomes the film's primary pop-cult gag."
Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars
and wrote "This is a brighter, more engaging film than the original
Madagascar. Steven D. Greydanus complained the film's plot
was similar to
The Lion King,
Joe Vs. The Volcano, and
Happy Feet. Carrie Rickey of the
Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 2
stars and wrote "Take the flat tire that was
Madagascar.
Retread it with
The Lion King storyline. Pump it up with
air. Now you have
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa." John
Anderson gave the film 3 1/2 approval rating and stated
"
Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa, the sequel to the
enormously successful DreamWorks adventure and a film that hews
close to the whole
Lion
King/species-as-destiny/self-fulfillment paradigm."
On its opening day, the film grossed $17,555,027 from 4,056
theaters with an $4,328 average. It went to be at #1 at the box
office with $63,106,589 with $15,559 average per theater. As of
March 19, 2009, it achieved a gross of $180,010,950 in the United
States and Canada along with a gross of $422,297,228 in other
regions adding to a worldwide gross total of $602,308,178.
Awards and nominations
Broadcast Film
Critics:
- Best Animated Film (nominated)
Nickelodeon
Kids' Choice Awards 2009
Soundtrack
- "Once Upon A Time In Africa" by Hans
Zimmer
- "The Traveling Song" by will.i.am
- "Party, Party, Party" by Hans Zimmer
- "I Like to Move It" by
will.i.am
- "The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly (Polka Version)" by Hans Zimmer
- "Big and Chunky" by will.i.am
- "Chums" by Hans Zimmer
- "New York, New
York (Polka Version)" by Hans Zimmer
- "Volcano" by Hans Zimmer
- "Rescue Me" by Hans Zimmer
- "More than a Feeling" by
Boston
- "She Loves Me" by will.i.am
- "Foofie" by Hans Zimmer
- "Copacabana (At the Copa)" by Barry
Manilow
- "Monochromatic Friends" by Hans Zimmer
- "Best Friends" by will.i.am
- "Alex On The Spot" by Hans Zimmer and will.i.am
Enhanced Videos
- "I Like to Move It" by
will.i.am
- "She Loves Me" by will.i.am
- "Big and Chunky" by will.i.am (DVD only)
Sequel
DreamWorks CEO
Jeffrey Katzenberg
confirmed that there will be an additional sequel to
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Katzenberg stated, "there is
at least one more chapter. We ultimately want to see the characters
make it back to New York." At the
Television Critics
Association press tour, Katzenberg was asked if there will be a
third film in the series. He replied, "Yes, we are making a
Madagascar 3 now, and it will be out in the
summer of 2012".
Home release
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was released on
DVD and
Blu-ray Disc on
February 6, 2009, along with the short film,
The Penguins of Madagascar.
In the first week at the DVD sales chart, Madagascar opened at #1,
selling 1,681,938 units which translated to $27.09m in revenue. As
per the latest figures, 7,060,997 units have been sold, bringing in
$102,791,511 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales/DVD
rentals.
Video game
A
video game based on the film and the
game of the original film,
was made for the
Xbox 360,
PlayStation 3,
Wii,
PlayStation 2,
Microsoft Windows, and
Nintendo DS, and released on November 4, 2008 in
North America. The video game's
gameplay is similar to the first movie's video game with the same
characters and moves, although the environment is in
Africa. The
Nintendo
Channel released a playable demo of this game on the week of
November 7, which shows one of the side-scrolling,
Lemmings-esque levels in which the penguins of the
series are the main characters.
References
- http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/MADG2-DVD.php
- http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/MADG2-DVD.php
-
http://www.amazon.com/Madagascar-2-Crate-Escape-Playstation-3/dp/B001AWFIU4
External links
- Video game
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