DreamWorks Animation has a rich history of box office successes, beginning with Shrek in 2001, which grossed an impressive $267 million domestically. After Madagascar finished with $193 million in 2005, a sequel was inevitable. This review delves into the "Move It, Move It" Double Pack DVD release of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, examining its content, video and audio quality, and bonus features.
Synopsis
Following a prologue that mixes new material with recaps of the original, the movie starts with our four leads -- Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) -- heading on a refurbished plane back home to New York. Unfortunately, the penguin crew that restored the rusty aircraft did a somewhat haphazard job, resulting in a crash on the African savannah. Alex discovers that his father Zuba (Bernie Mac) is king of the pride.
Rejoining the pride is not so easy for Alex, though, as the scheming Makunga (Alec Baldwin) reminds Zuba that all lions must win a rite of passage match or else be banished. This causes just the father-son rift Makunga needs to steal the throne, as Zuba can't accept the fact that his spawn is a performing lion, not a fighting one. Meanwhile, Marty has an identity crisis upon noticing every other zebra in Africa looks, sounds, and acts like him, even learning his special performance tricks. Melman has been hired as a witch doctor, but when he catches a fatal disease that has affected previous applicants, he begins to sort out his priorities.
The plot of Madagascar 2 is quite different than the original film. Instead of all of the animal friends going off on an adventure together, like in the first film, the story of this film is split up into various smaller sub-plots. Everything seems to be doing their own thing, which is a good and bad thing. It’s good, because there are lots of funny moments jam-packed into this film involving these various secondary sub-plot. At the same time, though, there is just not enough time to devote more time to the funny sub-plots, since the main focus seems to be the storyline of Alex and his father and his father’s rival. This storyline was just not as funny nor as emotional as it was supposed to be.
Comedic Style and Story
With the exception of some hand-drawn features, DreamWorks' animated output has largely been comedic in nature. The same holds true for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Nary a minute goes by without a gag of some sort. Even more serious moments are book-ended with jokes. The question, of course, is whether or not a feature with such one-sided intentions is able to meet its goal. The answer, in general, is yes.
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In terms of comedic style, the film sits in the middle of the DreamWorks scale. It neither sinks to the abysmal lows of Shark Tale (which was so narrow-minded that its pop culture references only spanned what was "fresh" in audience minds), nor does it rise to the timeless and gentler tone of Kung Fu Panda. At least the references on board here span all sorts of decades and genres, from Planet of the Apes to Barry Manilow. Most of these inspire smiles not outright laughs, but that's more than most animated features can claim.
The story in this installment feels more substantial than the obviously-padded original, but it still doesn't quite excel. The theme of acceptance has been done to death not just in animation, but in film, period. It's also been done better. As such, the filmmakers create a curious feat. On one hand, the characters are given more development than in the first one. On the other, this feels less like an ensemble piece. There's no denying that Alex is essentially the main character of the franchise, but the supporting cast seemed like it was given more satisfying screen time the first time around. Perhaps the minimal screen time in that feature seemed more acceptable with less meat to chew on. Here, the subplots seem to underutilize Alex's fellow animals. It's all just as well, though, since the already present familiarity probably would've been less tolerable had the story been stretched out.
Voice Casting
A staple of DreamWorks animation is casting celebrities to do voice work, regardless of whether or not they suit the roles. This often serves as a distraction since the viewer will keep thinking of the actor rather than the character. The casting works surprisingly well here, however. Only Chris Rock and David Schwimmer (both of whom return from the original) call to mind their live-action selves. The rest of the cast blends in better than expected.
In one of his last roles, Bernie Mac does a remarkable job of infusing warmth and dimensionality into Zuba. Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am is completely unrecognizable as the Barry White-sounding Moto Moto, and Alec Baldwin has fun chewing up the scenery in his limited role.
The voice cast is certainly filled with A-List stars once again, but this time they seem to have brought more life to the characters. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett-Smith all seemed to just be reading lines in the first film, but now it seems like they have made them their own rather than just bringing their personas to life in an animated animal character. Of course, it helps when you have better stories written for these characters this time around. Sacha Baron Cohen, as King Julien, is excellent again in a smaller role this time, as are those wacky scene-stealing penguins.
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The penguins of Madagascar Behind the scenes
Video and Audio Quality
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa comes to DVD in separate widescreen and fullscreen releases. The former, reviewed here, presents the film approximately in its 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio. DVDs have essentially been pushed as far as they can go, and as such, this transfer holds little surprises. A computer-animated film with a lavish budget is sure to produce pleasing results, and that's precisely the case here.
The video is presented in 1080p/AVC at the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen color ratio, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs of course. This transfer is fantasic. Everything looks crystal clear and the colors are vibrant and rich.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound track also delivers. Animated features tend to offer some of the best audio quality due to the studio-recorded dialogue and created-from-scratch effects. This track is no exception. Dialogue is clear, music is robust, and the effects make good use of the surrounds.
The audio included is available in either English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound, English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English, French, and Spanish as well. The dialogue and music come out loud, and the overall audio quality is pretty much on par with the visual quality.
Bonus Features
Madagascar 2 bears a collection of extras that's remarkably lightweight for a title that grossed nearly $200 million domestically. The first feature is an audio commentary by directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath along with producers Mireille Soria and Mark Swift. It's difficult to discern who exactly is speaking since Darnell, McGrath, and Swift have similar voices. There's also a bit more dead air than should be expected of four participants. When they do speak, however, good factoids pop up. Abandoned story ideas, references to the original film, and animation challenges are among the topics covered.
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Next comes "It's A Family Affair: The Cast of Escape 2 Africa" (9:09). This is quite obviously an EPK featurette that boasts about how all of the talented cast members onboard. Some good shots of the actors recording their lines are shown, but these are infrequent.
"The Making of Escape 2 Africa" (11:02) fares much better. Acting as a general, all-purpose featurette, it goes through different stages of production, interviewing cast and crew members and splicing together behind-the-scenes footage. Even better is "Crash Landing" (3:36). The sequence of the plane crashing into Africa is broken down and explored from various production angles. A particular emphasis is placed on the live-action reference footage used, offering some amusement.
"African Adventure" (7:15) discusses the research trip Africa taken by the filmmakers. Different crew members lend insight into what they took away from the experience, and plenty of on-site footage is shown. Like "Crash Landing," there's no promotional pretext here, and as such, it packs in a good deal of information.
"Jambo Jambo: Swahili Speak" (1:41) translates general terms used in the film into Swahili. After the clip is over, the viewer can choose eight slightly more difficult phrases to translate. "Test Flight of the Air Penguin" is a set-top game featuring the original voices of the memorable penguins. That's about the only thing that makes it somewhat bearable as the player must select random, everyday objects that offer a good replacement for the airplane's parts. A couple of these don't quite make sense, and gameplay as a whole is slow and monotonous.
"Mad Music" branches off into a submenu featuring three music videos and a sing-along by will.i.am. These are "Move It, Move It" (2:46), "Big and Chunky" (1:04), "She Loves Me" (1:22), and "Traveling Song" (1:29). None of these clips actually show the performer himself. The first three extract character animation from the film and place them on different backgrounds. The sing-along just sets actual film clips to on-screen lyrics. They're enjoyable while listening to but aren't particularly memorable outside of the franchise's signature song, originally titled "I Like to Move It".
The DreamWorks Animation Jukebox features musical clips from most of the studio's CG features. These include "I'm a Believer" (Shrek), "Livin' La Vida Loca" (Shrek 2), "Car Wash" (Shark Tale), "I Like to Move It" (Madagascar), "Rockin' the Suburbs" (Over the Hedge), "Dancing with Myself" (Flushed Away), "Losing Streak" (Shrek the Third), "Here Comes the Sun" (Bee Movie), and "Kung Fu Fighting" (Kung Fu Panda).
The feature disc opens up with trailers for Monsters vs. Aliens, Secrets of the Furious Five, "The Penguins of Madagascar", and the original Madagascar.
The Penguins of Madagascar
Based on DreamWorks' other bonus discs, one might think "The Penguins of Madagascar" is a made-for-DVD short, but this isn't the case. Instead, it's comprised of two episodes from the upcoming Nickelodeon series of the same name. The first, "Popcorn Panic" (12:04), has Skipper and Julien facing off in a power struggle. When the zoo policy of not feeding the animals is enforced, each leader goes off hunting with his team in search of popcorn. In the second episode, "Gone in a Flash" (12:06), Julien thinks he has trapped Maurice inside of a digital camera. The penguins conduct a search and rescue for the real Maurice. It helps that the original penguin (and Mort) voice actors make a return here. While Julien and Maurice are understandably recast, their new performers are quite convincing.
The plastic look of the animation can be a bit jolting at first after watching the feature film, but it's actually quite detailed for a television series. Both episodes offer some mild amusement, "Gone in a Flash" being the stronger of the two. It's unclear how exactly this series relates to the two feature films, though.
Additional Supplements
Some minor supplements also show up on this disc, the first of which is "The Heart of a Lion" (11:56). Unexpectedly serious considering the tone of the film and other supplements, this featurette acts as a mini nature documentary. Comprised of stock footage, it follows a pride of lions throughout the course of several months.
"The Bronx Zoo: Madagascar" (8:13) returns to the more irreverent tone found elsewhere. Here, Bronx Zoo director Jim Breheny takes viewers on a tour of the new Madagascar exhibit. He points out the different animals contained there, spouting off general facts while pop-up trivia bubbles tout even more.
"Mad Activities" contains DVD-ROM content. These include Printables & Weblinks, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Activision PC Flash Mini-Game, and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Activision Video Game Demo.
"Alex's Dance Off" (3:17) sounds like another set-top game, but it really is just a collage of his various dance moves. Each one is labeled and played back at varying speeds.
The disc also includes several Easter eggs. Six of these are located on the "Penguins of Madagascar" menu featuring the two episodes. Each of these clips offers what appears to be a little interstitial involving the penguins, Julien, Maurice, and Mort. Another Easter egg, located on the "Mad Activities" menu, features a cheat code to make Marty invincible in the video game.
DVD Packaging
All the menus of both discs feature looped animation and score. The main menu of each has the four protagonists dancing to upbeat music. The submenus all feature different characters with their own little animations and pieces of score. Both discs come in their own individual black Amaray cases. Packaged together with shrinkwrap, the covers stand side by side to form a larger mural image.
Overall Impression
Overall, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a satisfactory film. Its tale echoes those of superior features, and there are more characters than the filmmakers know how to handle, but it provides a bit more laughs and character development than its predecessor. As long as one goes in with expectations in check, this sequel is an enjoyable (if not particularly memorable) ride.
There are no qualms to be had with the image or sound quality on this release, both of which are top-notch. The supplements are a mixed bag, but there's solid content overall.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa earns a recommendation to those who are fans of the first film.
Final Thoughts
The cheery, cuddly talking creatures from Dreamworks' previous hit Madagascar make a return appearance in Escape 2 Africa, a sequel that builds on the winning characterizations established in the first movie with a marginally more entertaining adventure this second time out.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is the usual sweet, simple Dreamworks talking animals animated picture with enough stupendous animation and silly hijinks to make it an easy recommend for an evening of family entertainment. Your favorite castaways are back - still together and still lost! One of the top movies of the year, DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is "even better than the first!" (Mark Hyman, FOX-TV).
The animation was top notch, not as top notch as Pixar per say but it was done very well. There are more movies and projects featuring the characters of Madagascar being developed and I’m looking forward to that. If you liked this sequel, be sure to get this on DVD or Blu-Ray.
In the end, Madagascar 2 is one of the better sequels out there as it basically proves the “sequel rule” by being a rare exception to it.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Video Quality | 1080p/AVC, 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, vibrant colors |
| Audio Quality | Dolby TrueHD 5.1, clear dialogue, robust music |
| Bonus Features | Commentary, making-of featurettes, music videos, game, Penguins of Madagascar episodes |
| Voice Acting | Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin |
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tags: #Africa
