![: Madagascar [2005]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0009PAPL0.02._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
Amazon.co.uk Review:
The penguins steal the show. In the sprightly Madagascar,
a mid-life crisis inspires Marty the Zebra (voiced by
Chris Rock) to escape from his lifelong home, a New York
zoo. His equally pampered friends--Alex the Lion (Ben
Stiller), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and
Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer)--then escape to
bring him back. Unfortunately, their attempt at damage
control persuades zoo officials that the animals are
unhappy, so all four get shipped to an animal preserve in
Kenya...only a squad of maniacal penguins change the
destination to Antarctica. The quartet end up on an
island where, in addition to meeting some hedonistic
lemurs, they learn about the food chain--and that Alex is
a different link on the chain from the other three. Madagascar
doesn't achieve the snappy perfection of a Pixar movie,
but it tops most other computer-animated efforts; the
collision of friendship and predator instincts makes for
an unusually gripping conflict. The vocal performances of
the central characters is serviceable, but Sacha Baron
Cohen (Ali G) provides topnotch lunacy as the
lemur king, and the penguins--voiced mostly by the
animators themselves--are the best thing in the movie. --Bret
Fetzer, Amazon.com
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