Four animals from the New York Zoo -- a zebra, a zealous lion, a hypochondriac giraffe and a fat female hippo – somehow end up on the island of Madagascar, where life is a struggle to survive the constant attacks from predators.That struggle is mirrored in this latest animated work from DreamWorks SKG Animation studios, which if this film is any indication, may not survive at all. Of late, the creative minds at Dreamworks seem to have lost inspiration, replacing it with formulaic mass production. If Shrek was as fresh as they come, then Shark Tale and Madagascar are as tired as it gets.
The recipe is as follows: gather a few disparate characters, but not so disparate that young audiences will lose interest, put them in an exotic environment, add a few tired jokes and clichés, throw in a pop soundtrack and hire some big name stars to dub the voices. Then call it entertainment. Which is not to say Madagascar fails completely. If you’re in the mood for cute, then you might just enjoy this film. And if you hail from New York, well, Madagascar is peppered with in jokes.
Indeed, the film’s ‘humor’ relies heavily on the idea of anthropomorphic New York yuppies getting out of the Big Apple and retuning to the wild. Which come to think of it, may not be such a bad idea.
DreamWorks Animation

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Chief editor: Steven Crane
September 2005 issue