bellino-angelo2014 I saw this movie for the first time when it came out in theaters in 2005, and I loved it, along with my parents, then I saw it various times in these years, and today I still love it. And it deserves a higher rating than 6.9.Considering the period this movie came out (practically when theaters were bombarded by great CGI animated movies such as SHREK, FINDING NEMO and ICE AGE), it has an original storyline, with four animals (a lion, a zebra, a hippopotamus and a giraffe) that live as friends in the Central Park zoo. But when Marty the zebra wants to escape, his friends also escape coming to his rescue, only to get captured (along with four penguins and two chimpanzees) and loaded on a ship direct to Kenya. Soon the four penguins sabotage the ship, and the quartet ends in Madagascar, and... well see the movie by yourself.I'll talk about the qualities of this movie: (1) The animation is good, and especially the jungle backgrounds are charming to look at (2) The cast is awfully good, especially Ben Stiller and Chris Rock are perfect as Alex and Marty using their tipical jokes from their previous movies, and Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer and Andy Ricther are a hoot as the three main lemur characters (King Julien, Maurice and Mort) (3) The soundtrack is amazing, with the recurring theme of BORN FREE, that is perfectly suited for Marty's spirit, and I LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT, a popular disco song from the 1990s that regained popularity after this movie came out.I want to talk about the penguins, my favourite characters of the movie. They are only supporting characters, but when they appear they steal the show! Skipper does also a nice Robert Stack impersonation, and it's very convincing as the penguin commander. The story line has not only comedy moments, but even his drama moments, especially when Alex returns with his carnivorous instincts after a period in the wild and wants to eat his best friend Marty, and then they reconcile. People should learn this from Madagscar: true friendship reigns over everything, and even when dark sides emerge, they stop with true friends' helping.The scene that scared me was when a hummingbird was killed by a carnivorous plant and a duckling killed by a crocodile, but the best scene was the lemur dance and song scene.I also saw on the DVD the featurette about the making process of the movie and even a short documentary about the Madagascar island.It's one of the greatest animated movies in recent memory, and if you never saw it, what are you waiting for? It's a must-see!

Sean Lamberger A group of lifelong zoo captives, buddies despite their hunter-vs-hunted natural relationship, arrange a prison break and try to find themselves, for better or worse, in the wild. Madagascar is a rough early effort from DreamWorks animation and, for the most part, it's a waste of vocal talent. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen all chip in on a ho-hum plot that fails to hit either heartstrings or funnybones. The characters themselves are strong, a well-developed mix of distinct shapes and colorful personalities that would go on to blossom in later installments, but here they're mere saplings at the mercy of a flat, played-out storyline. Even the animation has aged poorly, playing more like a student's demo reel than a multi-million dollar major studio production. It's tempting to give that a pass, given how far technology has come in the ten years since, but Pixar had already released Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles by this time, and those all hold up wonderfully. An also-ran in all respects, it's got missed potential by the boatloads, but not much more.

James Beckham This was an average Dreamworks, memorable, crude, but just a decent film, not great. The film mainly revolves around four animals, Melman the giraffe, Gloria the hippo, Alex the lion, and his best friend Marty the zebra. Then they also added two male monkeys and 4 penguins (who later got their own movie, "The Penguins of Madagascar") who are named Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private. The penguins want to go to the wild and Marty finds he wants to as well. So, thus begins the crazy adventure to the wild.The film is very memorable in that the story revolves around Alex's and Marty's friendship and how they try to stay friends in hard times. It can get very emotional at times. That's what made it memorable.The film was crude. Sexual innuendo, suggestive language, and a few suggestive jokes grace the film, and oh, I forgot, the comic violence (thanks to the penguins).But, like usual for a Dreamworks film, it was only really a decent film. It is a film I wouldn't mind seeing again as it was rather humorous and had a good story, but it still was a bit mediocre. Overall, I think this is a film older families could enjoy. I personally wouldn't let a child under 8 see the film (due to some suggestive language), but it's still a good film for the family to watch sometime during a family movie night or for the kids to see during a road trip. I give it a six out of 10.

rbn_lrk-1 Those were the days of 2005.Old Youtube, Rotten Tomatoes Photoshop and AMV on Youtube.Well, 2005 had some highlights too like Madagascar.Dreamworks started their big moments at that time.Alex the lion and his friends lives in the New York Zoo, and one of them want to see the wild.So the animals escapes, as they ends up in Madagascar.But the lion and his friends must save the island from wild animals.Alex still has his killer instinct too.The animation is lively and colorful.It is not on a rank of the Disney classics, but still some lighthearted entertainment for the weekend.The all star cast includes Ben Stiller and more.10/10