Madagascar proves a few theories that have been rattling around in my head. One is that Lemurs secretly like to Rave, and the other is that Dreamworks Pictures makes pretty CGI animated features that are like cotton candy. They melt in your mouth in a sweet and sticky way, but when compared to rival Pixar, they’re ultimately soulless and leave little after-taste. Or maybe a better way of thinking of it is: Dreamworks likes jokes. Pixar likes stories with jokes in them.

Madagascar tells the story of a group of animals kicking back in the Central Park Zoo. The Zoo features a hypochondriac giraffe (voiced nebbishly and annoyingly – which is the point – by David Schwimmer), a rotund big momma character in the form of a hippo (voiced by the svelte Jada Pinkett-Smith) and the star attraction, Ben Stiller’s lion. More promising, we’ve got a trio of conspiring penguins (shades of “Olive the Other Reindeer” here) who inspire a zebra (voiced by Chris Rock) to seek more out of life. And to the tune of “Born Free,” Marty starts pining for “The Wild,” which is, according to him, probably in Connecticut. Marty follows the penguins out of the zoo, and Pinkett-Smith, Stiller, and Schwimmer give chase. After a too-brief New York adventure (by “too brief” I mean “way too brief”) the jig is up and the animals – now considered dangerous – are crated up and send away to . . . well, that’s unknown. Suffice it to say, they end up in Madagascar.

Rather than have the critters meet their feral counterparts, the isle of Madagascar is populated with lemurs and foosa (small wild doggy things). The lemurs dance to Rave music (they like to “move it move it”) and their king is a nutjob voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G). The lemurs are fun, the adventure is pedestrian, but a scene with sea-water spit-takes strikes comic gold by going on just long enough to be funny, then not funny, then funny again.

Rather than have the critters meet their feral counterparts, the isle of Madagascar is populated with lemurs and foosa (small wild doggy things). The lemurs dance to Rave music (they like to “move it move it”) and their king is a nutjob voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G). The lemurs are fun, the adventure is pedestrian, but a scene with a series of sea-water spit-takes strikes comic gold by going on just long enough to be funny, then not funny, then funny again.

Will the animals prefer the wild? How will the lion get his daily steak?  All these questions and more will be answered by the movie Madagascar. A light-weight piece of cinematic cotton candy that’s brilliantly animated, fun to look at, funny in places, but lacking in both heart and soul. It’s not bad like Shark Tale, but ultimately it is forgettable.

Madagascar features a few crude jokes for the parents, some potty humor, and a lot of Bugs Bunny style animated violence. It’s nothing that a kid who’s seen Disney, Pixar, or movies like Shrek, can’t handle.

Tags: Movies with Children