Dreamworks Animation Movie #5
Madagascar
2005
Rating: PG
Budget: 75 million
Box Office: 532 million plus (daaaaaaamn)
IMDb Logline: "Spoiled by their upbringing with no idea what wild life is really like, four animals from New York Central Zoo escape, unwittingly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar, among a bunch of merry lemurs."
There was great voice talent in this movie- especially noteworthy was:
Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien of the Lemurs (very entertaining and somewhat impersonating Babu from Seinfeld)
Ben Stiller (surprisingly worked) as Alex the Lion
David Schwimmer (especially surprising, until you realize his character is an exaggerated, more neurotic version of Ross from Friends) as Melman the Giraffe
and of course Tom McGrath (also a co-director) as Skipper, the leader of a hilarious troop of penguins
Chris Rock also starred as Marty the Zebra, a character clearly inspired by Eddie Murphy's Donkey in Shrek.
However, unlike the witty and winsome Donkey, Chris Rock's Marty lacked the necessary charm to compensate for his ridiculously annoying voice.
Chris Rock is a great comedian but not a great actor as evidenced by:
Seeing an energetic animated zebra instead of his continually perplexed acting face helped... somewhat.
There were also a pair of super-amusing chimps (like the monkey take on Jay & Silent Bob or Penn & Teller), who unfortunately disappear for most of the movie and reappear by the end.
While Madagascar was cute and I especially appreciated its NY roots, it still blows my mind that this movie made over half a billion dollars. Its sequel made even more moola. My research will involve seeing the entire trilogy.
Special shout out to the adorable Mort.
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