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A loveless marriage is disected in reverse over five increasingly hopeful scenes. | score B+ |
moviereview rates films from A (unmissable) to E (unwatchable) |
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| Cast Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer Director Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath Screenwriter Tom McGrath, Mark Burton Country USA Rating / Running Time PG / 80 minutes Australian Release June 2005 Official Site (c) moviereview
2005
ABN 72 775 390 361 |
Alex
is a cool cat, an urban-jungle VIP and lion king of the New York Zoo.
He enjoys top billing with his best friend Marty the zebra in loyal
support. Things go wrong when Marty, longing for adventure and inspired
by psychotic penguins, heads for the wild and inadvertently has
himself, Alex, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe dispatched to
Kenya. If that wasn’t bad enough, they end up lost in Madagascar
where loopy lemurs want to make friends. It’s a jungle out there
– and while these city folk made it in New York, can they make it
anywhere? The directorial team behind Antz and TV’s Ren and Stimpy Show do not disappoint. Madagascar is brimming with Seinfeld angst and lashings of bare-arsed lunacy. Poo fixated monkeys and an inspired lemur king (sublimely voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen aka Ali G) populate a mad world of loony tunes. Rather than create a film for children with random, patronising nods to imprisoned parents, Madagascar operates on two levels throughout. There’s a fast, colourful world of adventure for kids that tells a story of friendship, courage and standing by your mates no matter how hungry they get, while adults get a different take throughout. Replete with pop references (American Beauty a personal favourite), the creators present a psychedelic story about walking the wild side that is as hilarious as it is surreal. And some of it is very surreal indeed. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and David Schwimmer on voice duty round out, for my money, one of the sharpest animated films in years. I laughed til I cried. // COLIN FRASER |