Another classic animated movie from the makers of Shrek, Madagascar plots the adventures of four mismatched zoo animals who escape from a New York zoo and mistakenly end up on the shores of Madagascar. Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) form the unlikely ensemble, stranded when Marty makes a bid for freedom. The Dreamworks team pull out another fantastically animated creation, which keeps you laughing throughout. The maincharacters work well but Rock's Marty is a blatant attempt at mimicking Eddie Murphy's Donkey, and is nowhere near the Shrek star's quality.
Though the main characters are well played, they did seem to be typecast in their roles. In my opinion the big names were easily overshadowed by the simply hilarious King Lemur played brilliantly by Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G). He plays his character with the hilarious, zaniness of a barmy corner shop owner; it sounds weird but is truly wonderful!
There are other small part characters which add to the fun along the way including the commando penguins and the intellectual monkey and his mute sidekick who go to throw poo. Real laugh out loud humour for all the family!
The DVD release is nothing short of excellent. The DVD features more extras than you can shake a stick at! There are over a 100 interactive extras including games, activities, creative projects and music videos. It also features behind the scenes, with hilarious commentaries from the commando penguins, "learn to draw" featurettes with the animation crew and downloadable projects. A fantastic film backed up by a fantastic range of features makes this a must have for all movie lovers!
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