REVIEW: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Movie Reviews

While I like Madagascar, it was never one of my favorite movies. As such, I didn’t make any significant effort to see the sequels when they came out. I saw Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa on TV a few years after it originally came out. I don’t remember a whole lot about it, but I do recall thinking it wasn’t as good as the original and that it borrowed a lot from The Lion King. That being said, I used to hate DreamWorks and compare all their movies to something I thought they ripped off (which was sometimes the case), so maybe that was just my bias talking. The animation studio without an identity has won some favor with movies like Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, so I’m rewatching these with fresh eyes as I go along. Is Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa really just a cheap knock-off, or does this sequel add something meaningful to the franchise it inhabits? Let’s take a look.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa finds Alex and his friends, as well as the penguins, the monkeys, King Julien, and Maurice, escaping the island on a shaky reconstructed plane. The central group just wants to return to New York, with Julien planning a non-hostile takeover. However, everyone’s plans are halted when the penguins’ flight methods crash-land the plane in the middle of the African Savannah. Things seem bleak at first, but Alex is soon reunited with a family and lion pride who thought he was dead. Melman, Gloria, and Marty all find their respective groups, and all seems well for a while. However, Makunga, a rival of Alex’s father, King Zuba, mentions that Alex must be banished from the pride since he never went through their rite of passage. When Alex insists on a chance to do the ritual, Makunga sets him up to fail. Zuba refuses to banish his own son and has to relinquish his rule as a result. Makunga takes up the mantle and exiles Alex anyway. Meanwhile, Gloria gets close to a hippo named Moto Moto while Melman agonizes over his secret love for her. Marty soon realizes that the other zebras are just like him, taking away the individuality he always prized.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (which I’ll be calling Madagascar 2 from this point on) has a lot going on. The first Madagascar was a pretty simple animal hijinks comedy, and while this film isn’t exactly Shakespeare, it does more with its world and characters. Some of these choices fare better than others, but I appreciate the attempt to actually expand the story of Madagascar rather than taking the story in circles. It’s surprising how many series fall into that trap. Madagascar 2 introduces Bernie Mac (RIP) as Alex’s father, King Zuba, Will.i.am as Moto Moto, and Alec Baldwin as Makunga. Zuba is definitely the best of the new characters, both for his narrative function and what would be one of Bernie Mac’s final performances. Moto Moto isn’t anything special in and of himself, but he factors into Gloria’s arc, and it’s worth it for Will. i.am’s version of “I Like To Move It” that plays in the credits. I usually like Alec Baldwin, but I really don’t care for Makunga as a character or villain. I admit he’s not as similar to Scar as I remembered; he’s not even Zuba’s brother, as far as I can tell. He’s also more of a physical threat than Scar, and his dynamic with Zuba is different from Scar and Mufasa. However, he’s annoying and not funny. It’s also crazy how he keeps tricking and manipulating the other lions, Zuba and Alex in particular. Makunga doesn’t seem particularly intelligent, and the other lions should see through these simple schemes. The rite of passage incident could have been easily avoided. Zuba should have simply talked to Alex and explained it himself, or Alex could have asked a second source if what Makunga said was true. There are a number of ways Makunga could have been a more entertaining, threatening villain. However, if it were up to me, Madagascar 2 just wouldn’t have had a villain. The film’s real conflict is between the four main characters and their various tribes in Africa, so you don’t really need somebody scheming in the background. I’m sure marketing said they needed a villain for kids to root against or something, but that doesn’t mean it’s best for the story.

Aside from anything involving Makunga, I like Zuba and his relationship with Alex a lot. They do the usual thing where the parent has to learn that their child’s unique abilities are useful, but I’m okay with it. This isn’t too overbearing, and everyone apologizes before it gets annoying. I love the first scene in the film, in which Zuba tries to teach Alex to fight. It’s genuinely heartbreaking when baby Alex (who is super adorable) gets lost. I’m indifferent to the romance between Melman and Gloria. It provides some decent jokes, and I like the scene where Melman lists things he likes about her, which Moto Moto couldn’t do. But, overall, they aren’t that convincing as a couple. I think this could have been handled better, but I also think it doesn’t hurt the movie too much.

I like Marty’s crisis of identity, especially for how it tests his friendship with Alex. I don’t care much either way about Melman’s story with the giraffes. It’s funny at times, and that’s all it is, but it doesn’t take up much runtime, so I don’t mind. Some of the jokes they reuse from the first film could have been left out, in my opinion. The old lady isn’t as funny as the writers seem to think she is, and the montage following the opening with Zuba and baby Alex is unnecessary. It’s just a clip show of memorable scenes from the first movie reminding the audience how we got here. As I mentioned earlier, Madagascar is a very simple movie with a straightforward story. Even besides that, anyone watching Madagascar 2 probably knows the plot of the first film well enough to follow this one. This may be a nitpick, and I honestly hate montages anyway, with a few exceptions. Maybe kids and their parents did need to be reminded of the first movie to ease them into this one.

The film’s musical score was co-composed by Hans Zimmer and Heitor Pereira, and it’s pretty great. Madagascar’s main theme soars to new heights to match the story’s new surroundings, and in general, the film just sounds great. The animation is also in full form and has improved as much as you’d expect in three years. The fur on the animals looks great, and I still enjoy this zany art style.

Overall, I like Madagascar 2 about the same as the first one, if not slightly less. It isn’t as funny and quick as Madagascar, but it makes up for that by going deeper into the characters and exploring Alex’s background. Madagascar 2 isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s not that similar to The Lion King, and I like it more now than when I first saw it.