Madagascar : Escape 2 Africa - A Review

I was never a fan of animation, let alone animation about animals (again~) But I was feeling down yesterday and I thought this movie might lighten the heart. It did. This movie is very entertaining and focus a lot on friendship and relationships. Very educational and suitable for children, a bit too childish for my taste, but alas, it was entertaining.


The story started with cub lion Alex being kidnapped by hunters and fished out of New York River. That explains how the famous Alex The Lion ended up in the zoo with the rest of the animals. Then fast forward to the bunch of animals leaving the deserted island on a plane manoeuvred by penguins. The plane crash landed in the middle of Africa. Alex found his long lost parents and his friends found their new found freedom. But after Alex misunderstood a fight competition as a dance competition, he and his family was banished from the tribe by evil Makunga. Melman the giraffe thought he was dying thus finally expressed his love for hippo Gloria. Unfortunately, Gloria was attracted to a really ugly hippo Moto Moto. And dear Martin the zebra thought he was unique until he met the herd of zebras in Africa and realised that they are all the same.


There came a bunch of funny human, New Yorkers actually, who were foolishly sabotaged by the penguins.(Who said animals are dumb?) Anyway, an old lady lead the bunch of lost tourists to build a dam and survive in wilderness, leading to a drought in the animals' land. Alex, wanting to prove himself to his dad, went out of the reserve land to unblock the river. After a series of funny events, Alex was successful, and the story ended with a happy ending, typical children movie style.


The whole movie's comical relief was Julien and Maurice. Those 2 squirrel like creatures were funny from beginning till the end.

Another memorable part was the touching words Melman said to Gloria. My goodness, what cross species love is that! Wish someone would said those lovely words to me... (Wishful thinking on my part, haha...) Anyway, another memorable relationship was the friendship between Alex and Martin. Friendships that braved through indifference and problems... Very childish values, but nonetheless, very important.

Values like friends stick together no matter what happens...

Thinking back, maybe children animation movie aren't that bad after all. This one left a bitter sweet feeling to me after watching. It focused on values that we have forgotten as we grow up, and relationships that can relate to everyone of all ages. Overall, an entertaining movie with funny characters and great voice cast that included Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Cedric the Entertainer, Alec Baldwin and many more.

OMG~~ The highly addictive tune of "I gotta move it move it" is in my head!! Argh~~ lol