Sequels are tricky beasts. Handled wrong, they can sully your positive memories of the original movie. Thankfully, the folks at DreamWorks Animation did everything right with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. The story's meatier and the animation is even more spectacular than the first Madagascar movie.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa brings back the best elements of Madagascar, including the familiar critters: Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett-Smith), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and my personal favorite – the loony lemur, King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen). Even little Mort, the world's most adorable animated lemur (you know you just want to pet his little head every time you see him on screen), returns for more adventures. Building on the characters we grew to love in Madagascar, the writers have added a herd of new creatures who are just as fully fleshed out and entertaining.
The Story
This Madagascar sequel picks up right where the 2005 film left off, with the Central Park Zoo animals preparing to leave Madagascar to return to the Big Apple. Attempting to prove penguins can fly, the tuxedoed dudes pieced together a plane and now Alex and company, along with King Julien and his 2nd in charge, Maurice, believe they're on the way back to New York City. But penguins, as we soon discover, are not qualified to be airplane mechanics.
The plane crash lands in Africa which turns out to be the best place on the planet for our NY gang to wind up – if they can't make it back to the States. Their plummet to earth couldn't have worked out better if it'd been planned. The four zoo buddies, the penguin posse, and the lemur duo find themselves face to face with wild animals of their own kind. And for Alex, this unexpected detour is actually a homecoming. The king of the lions, Zuba (Bernie Mac), and his mate (voiced by Sherri Shepherd) turn out to be Alex's real parents.
Everyone's happy to finally get to know members of their own species in the wild, but the reunion between Alex and his parents doesn't please all members of the pride. Makunga (Alec Baldwin) has long wanted to replace Zuba as the leader, and the return of the city-raised Alex provides him with just the right opening to make his move...
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