Tom McGrath (2) (1964–)

A fun and fast-paced opening unfortunately sets the viewer up for a disappointment as the last two thirds of the film are much slower and mostly quite predictable. There's some charm to be had still, with well animated facial expressions to go with great comedic voice acting, but the film still ends up being far more bland than it by all rights should have been.

Animals from Central Park Zoo are marooned in Madagascar.

2.5/4 (Okay).

There is some truly horrendous animation, and also some racism. But a surprising amount of the humor is actually funny (maybe 50% or more), and the story structure doesn't have any major problems.

When Marty the zebra begins to question his life in the zoo, he makes plans to run away. Unfortunately, his decision spirals out of control and he, along with his friends Alex the Lion, Gloria the hippo, and Melman the giraffe, end up stranded on an island. Once in the wild, the animals’ encounters with crazy lemurs and vicious fossa make them realize the zoo might not have been so bad. Ultimately, the strength of their friendship is put to the test as Alex begins to succumb to his show more predatory instincts. Madagascar’s plot is simple and places a great deal of importance on friendship. The colorful scenery and the exaggeratedly cartoonish animals make the movie visually enjoyable. The animals spend a lot of the movie shouting at each other from excitement, anger, or fear. Though this becomes tiring, it is only a mild distraction. Much of the movie is based off of physical humor that children should enjoy. There is some mature humor as well, but this will mostly go over the heads of younger viewers. Madagascar is most appropriate and enjoyable for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. It is recommended for the movie section of public libraries. show less

I only watched this movie because it came up in streaming and I wanted to see what a shitpile it was. And I was absolutely right. The first Boss Baby movie did not need to exist, and this one sucked even more.