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Film review-Madagascar DreamWorks Animation presents a PDI / DreamWorks production MPAA rating PG / Running time — 86 minutes QUOTE: Halfway through, it becomes a really funny adult animation film. New York’s Central Park Zoo is home to a host of celebrity animals-Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), who has been stripped of all animal passions and lusts. He’s a brand name performer with a line of toys and household accessories. His pals include Melman (David Schwimmer), a giraffe who craves vitamins and appointments, Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), a no-nonsense hippo, and Marty (Chris Rock), a zebra who yearns for more than being cooped up in a box gawked at by tourists. But it is the penguins who are the real adventurers here, and they decide to make a break for it and go to Antarctica (where, in full disclosure, I went this past Christmas and New Year’s. Yes, it is cold. And, frankly, an entire continent of penguins smells really bad! However, the icebergs are fantastic.) Marty decides to hightail it to the wild and free land of Connecticut. Alex, Melman, and Gloria take off to rescue him before he does something silly like forage for his own food. Boarding a train at Grand Central Station, they get caught and sent on a boat to Africa. The ship’s crew, slapped silly by the stowaway penguins, heads for Antarctica instead. Marty, Melman, Alex, and Gloria get shipwrecked and find themselves in Madagascar surrounded by lemurs ruled by King Julien the 13th (Sacha Baron Cohen). Soon, everyone is enjoying themselves but Alex starts looking for something other to eat than coconuts. And the penguins land in Antarctica. “This sucks.” A perfect moment fades to black! There’s still a lot of love, hugging, and friendship but the writers, Mark Burton and Billy Frolick, give adults, especially movie lovers, enough inside gags to really make MADAGASCAR a fun romp. When was the last time a movie like AMERICAN BEAUTY was satirized in animation? (This moment is for you, Mom and Dad, not your kids.) For once, the true nature of a wild animal is addressed. Thank you Dreamworks. And the songs are well done since Dreamworks certainly can afford to pay the big royalty fees. The only gripe is that the movie is all talk, talk, talk. Nobody shuts up. Voices: Alex: Ben Stiller Marty: Chris Rock Melman: David Schwimmer Gloria: Jada Pinkett Smith Julien: Sacha Baron Cohen Maurice: Cedric the Entertainer Mort: Andy Richter Credits: Directors: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath Producer: Mireille Soria Screenwriters: Mark Burton & Billy Frolick and Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath Production designer: Kendal Cronkhite-Shaindlin Editor: H. Lee Peterson Music: Hans Zimmer..

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