With Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted coming to theaters, I decided to watch Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa again. I am glad to tell you all that I had a lot of fun with this movie.
When Alex and the gang try to go back to New York, their plane crash lands in Africa. Here, Alex meets his long lost family. When Alex loses a fighting competition, his father, unwilling to banish his own son, depromotes himself as king. Meanwhile, Marty the zebra is troubled with the fact that he's not exactly unique when the other zebras point it out. Also, Melman becomes the doctor of all of the animals in Africa, Gloria finds a love interest and the penguins try to fix the plane so they can get back to New York.
One thing I really liked about this movie was how Alex and his father are from completely different backgrounds. So, when Alex says something to his father or vice versa, they are so vague when talking to one another that they would think that it means something else and take it the wrong way. For example, when Alex tells his father that he was the "King of New York", his father, not knowing what New York even is, assumed that Alex was an actual king. Little does his father know, "King of New York" is just Alex's stage name at the Zoo in New York. Also, when Alex's father vaguely tells him that he has to win a "competition" or else Alex will be banished, Alex thinks that his fatheris referring to a dancing competion. Alex has no clue that his dad was referring to a fighting competition and, therefore, loses. I loved how they showed this contrast between Alex's lifestyle and Alex's father's lifestyle.
Another thing I really liked about this film was when the zebras point out to Marty that they are all exactly the same. What they don't point out is that on the outside, they each look different. I noticed that each zebra has different stripe patterns on them and are, therefore, not "exactly the same".
Also, there are 6 different stories in this movie. one being Alex's relationship with his family. Another being Marty being told that he's exactly the same as the other zebras and how Marty deals with that when Alex can't tell Marty and another zebra apart from eachother. Another being Melman becoming the doctor of the animals in Africa and being told that he would die (which was just a myth). Another story is Gloria finding a love interest, as well as the penguins stealing tourists' cars and using the pieces to fix the plane. And lastly, another story being a lack of water for the animals in Africa. These stories are tied together so well, mainly by the lack of water story. The lack of water story ties it together because Alex and Marty work together to break the dam, with help from the penguins. Alex's father soon helps them out and him and Alex start getting along. Also, Melman volunteers to sacrifice himself in a volcano to bring back the water after King Julien says they need to sacrifice someone to bring back the water. This leads to Melman realizing that he's not going to die and Gloria realizing that Melman is her real love interest and they both fall in love. These stories were all so wonderfully tied together.
In terms of humor, this film was hilarious!!! I found myself laughing non stop! That old lady named Nana, the penguins, King Julian and Mort all stole the show! All of the other characters were hilarious as well, but these characters were the funniest of the bunch!
The only problem I had with the film was that some of the songs were just there for laughs and didn't exactly fir the tone of that scene. Even though I found those parts to be hilarious, the songs still didn't fit the tone of the scenes.
Overall, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was a heartfelt, hilarious and well directed film!
Film Grade: B+
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