Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (also known as Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa) is a 2008 American animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG and PDI/DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the sequel to Madagascar (2005) and the second installment in the franchise. It was directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath and written by Etan Cohen, Darnell, and McGrath. The film features Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Elisa Gabrielli, McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, and Conrad Vernon reprising their voice acting roles from the first film, joined by new cast members Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Sherri Shepherd, and will.i.am, as well as voice acting veteran John DiMaggio. In the film, the main characters, a party of animals from the Central Park Zoo whose adventures have taken them to Madagascar find themselves in the African savannas, where they meet others of their species and where Alex the lion reunites with his parents.

DreamWorks Animation announced a sequel to Madagascar since 2005, when the first film had been released, with a release date planned for late 2008. It was originally subtitled The Crate Escape, before eventually changed its final title Escape 2 Africa. The film, like its predecessor, features several songs from various artists, with musical score being composed by Hans Zimmer, this time being joined by will.i.am who performed five songs.

Released on November 7, 2008, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa received positive reviews from critics for its characters, humor and animation, with critics considering it an improvement over its predecessor, and grossed $603.9 million on a $150 million budget, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 2008. It was dedicated to Bernie Mac, who died on August 9, 2008 before the film's release. A sequel, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, was released in June 2012.

Plot
In Kenya, the alpha lion Zuba tries to teach his young son Alakay how to fight, but Alakay is more interested in dancing. Rival lion Makunga challenges Zuba for the title of alpha, but during their fight, Alakay is captured by poachers and put in a crate. Zuba gives chase and breaks the safety harness off of the crate containing Alakay, but is shot in the ear and incapacitated. The crate falls into the ocean and drifts to New York City, where Alakay is renamed Alex, grows up at the Central Park Zoo, and meets his lifelong best friends: Marty, Melman, and Gloria.

Years later, following their adventure in Madagascar, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria, along with Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private the penguins and Mason and Phil the chimpanzees, prepare to return to New York aboard a battered airplane piloted by the penguins, accompanied by King Julien, Maurice, and Mort. The plane runs out of fuel and crash lands in continental Africa. The animals find themselves at a watering hole on a nature reserve, and are excited to meet others of their species. Alex is reunited with his parents and impresses them with tales of his status as "the king of New York". Marty fits in with a herd of other zebras who look and sound just like him. Melman, a hypochondriac, is distressed that the reserve has no doctors, so the other giraffes appoint him their witch doctor. Seeking romance, Gloria attracts the attention of the smooth-talking male hippo Moto Moto. Meanwhile, the penguins set about repairing the plane, assisted by numerous chimpanzees recruited by Mason and Phil. They steal vehicles from humans on a safari and strip them for parts. Nana, a tough old woman who attacked Alex in Grand Central Station, takes charge of the stranded tourists and helps them survive in the wilderness for the time being.

In a scheme to oust Zuba as alpha lion, Makunga insists that Alex complete a rite of passage which Alex mistakes for a talent contest. It is actually a fighting contest, and Makunga tricks him into choosing the strongest lion as his opponent, resulting in Alex's humiliating defeat. Despondent, Zuba relinquishes his title as alpha to Makunga, who banishes Alex from the watering hole. Meanwhile, Marty is dejected by the realization that the other zebras can do everything he can, believing himself no longer unique. Melman comes to believe that he is deathly ill and, having secretly loved Gloria for a long time, is saddened by Gloria's interest in Moto Moto. The four friends get into a heated argument with one another. Gloria has a date with Moto Moto, but loses interest when she realizes he is only attracted to her because of her size. After a pep talk from Julien, Melman finally reveals his feelings for Gloria.

The next day, the animals panic when the watering hole dries up. Determined to redeem himself, Alex mends his friendship with Marty and they leave the reserve to investigate upriver. Julien suggests that offering a sacrifice to the nearby volcano will restore the water. Melman, forlorn and believing he is dying, volunteers to be sacrificed. Gloria stops him from jumping into the volcano, and realizes that he loves her for more than her appearance. Alex and Marty discover that the stranded humans have built a camp and dammed up the river, and Alex is captured by them. Zuba rushes to his aid, but Alex saves them both by dancing for the humans, who remember him fondly from the zoo. Marty, Melman, Gloria, the penguins, and the chimpanzees arrive in the repaired airplane and help Alex destroy the dam, restoring the water. Makunga angrily makes a stand for control, but Alex tricks him into being subdued by Nana. Zuba offers Alex the title of alpha lion, but he declines, believing the title belongs to his father. Zuba claims the title belongs to them both, and father and son become co-leaders.

Skipper marries a bobblehead doll from the plane, and he, the other penguins, and the chimpanzees head off to honeymoon in Monte Carlo. The foursome and the lemurs happily decide to stay on the reserve for a while.

Voice cast



 * Ben Stiller as Alex, a lion.
 * Quinn Dempsey Stiller, Ben Stiller's son, as Alex as a baby, known as Alakay.
 * Declan Swift as young Alex
 * Chris Rock as Marty, a zebra and Alex's best friend.
 * Rock also voices the other zebras in the herd.
 * Thomas Stanley as young Marty
 * David Schwimmer as Melman, a giraffe and one of Alex's friends.
 * Zachary Gordon as young Melman.
 * Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria, a hippopotamus, one of Alex's friends, and Melman's love interest.
 * Willow Smith as young Gloria
 * Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien XIII, a ring-tailed lemur and the king of the lemurs in Madagascar.
 * Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice, a aye-aye who is King Julien's royal advisor and assistant.
 * Andy Richter as Mort, a Goodman's mouse lemur and King Julien's biggest fan.
 * Bernie Mac as Zuba, Alex's father and the alpha lion.
 * Sherri Shepherd as Alex's mother and Zuba's mate. Her name is not given in either the film nor credits, but she is named Florrie in the novelization.
 * Alec Baldwin as Makunga, a lion who rivals Zuba for the position of alpha.
 * Elisa Gabrielli as Nana, an elderly woman who opposes the animals.
 * will.i.am as Moto Moto, a hippopotamus who is attracted to Gloria.
 * Tom McGrath as Skipper, a penguin who leads a commando group consisting of himself and three other penguins.
 * Chris Miller as Kowalski, a penguin and Skipper's right hand man and intelligence officer of the team.
 * Christopher Knights as Private, a penguin and the mild-mannered eager rookie of Skipper's team.
 * John DiMaggio as Rico, a silent penguin who is the loose cannon explosives expert and weapons suppiler of Skipper's team, who only expressed through grunts and squeals.
 * Conrad Vernon as Mason, a chimpanzee. (Phil, the other main chimpanzee, is unvoiced)
 * Fred Tatasciore as Teetsi the lion and as one of the poachers who captures young Alex.
 * Eric Darnell as Joe the giraffe and as one of the poachers who captures young Alex.
 * Al Roker as a newscaster.
 * Phil LaMarr as Safari Tour Guide.
 * Stephen Kearin as Stephen the giraffe, as a rhinoceros, and as one of the New Yorkers.
 * Danny Jacobs as one of the New Yorkers.
 * Dan O'Connor as a buffalo and as one of the New Yorkers.
 * Stacy Ferguson as a female hippopotamus.
 * Harland Williams as a giraffe.
 * Bridget Hoffman as one of the New Yorkers.
 * David P. Smith as Bobby the dik-dik
 * John Eric Bentley provided additional voices.

Production
A sequel to Madagascar had been in development since 2005, when the first film had been released, with a release date planned for late 2008. In the first teaser trailer, which was released in March 2008, the film was subtitled The Crate Escape. By June 2008, the film was given its final title – Escape 2 Africa. Los Angeles-based studio Duck Studios, animated the end credits scene using Cutout animation with a style inspired by African art.

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes reported that of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of, based on  reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is an improvement on the original, with more fleshed-out characters, crisper animation and more consistent humor." Another review aggregator, Metacritic classified the film into the "generally favorable reviews" category with 61/100 approval rating based on 25 reviews, also a bit higher a score than the original. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune stated in his review that the film "goes easy on the pop culture jokes, I should clarify: one of the smarter things in the script is how Alex, who digs his Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins dance moves, becomes the film's primary pop-cult gag." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3/4 stars and wrote "This is a brighter, more engaging film than the original Madagascar." John Anderson of Newsday gave the film 3.5/4 stars and stated "Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa, the sequel to the enormously successful DreamWorks adventure and a film that hews close to the whole Lion King/species-as-destiny/self-fulfillment paradigm." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote: "The roots are shallow, but the sequel is good-natured, high-spirited and perfectly enjoyable if you take it for what it is." Jim Schembri of The Age gave the film 3.5/5 stars, describing it as a "hugely entertaining, lightning-fast, ceaselessly funny follow-up to the adorable 2005 animated hit", and deemed it one of the best animated films of 2008. Kelly Jane Torrance of The Washington Times gave the film 3/5 stars, writing that it "might not offer audiences cutting-edge animation or a particularly original story", but added: "It still has a lot going for it, though: foot-tapping music, laughs for young and old and the prodigious talents of Sacha Baron Cohen."

Shubra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote that the film was "as spunky, witty and funny" as its predecessor, and praised the animation and characters, but criticized the story for "[taking] the same course as The Lion King, with a detour towards Shrek thrown in." Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 2/4 stars and wrote: "Take the flat tire that was Madagascar. Retread it with The Lion King storyline. Pump it up with air. Now you have Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 2/5 stars, describing it as "a frankly disappointing piece of opportunism, with a non-plot which shamelessly rips off The Lion King." Anthony Quinn of The Independent also gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "The visual invention and draughtsmanship are mightily impressive; a shame the drama's a bit of a bore."

Box office
On its opening day, the film grossed $17,555,027 from 4,056 theaters with a $4,328 average. It went to be at No. 1 at the box office with $63,106,589 with $15,559 average per theater. As of March 19, 2009, it achieved a gross of $180,010,950 (29.8% of total gross) in the United States and Canada along with a gross of $423,889,404 (70.2%) in other regions adding to a worldwide gross total of $603,900,354.

Music
Hans Zimmer returned to compose the score for the film, this time being joined by will.i.am. The soundtrack includes five new songs performed by will.i.am; his cover of "I Like to Move It" was used in the end credits.

Home media
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 6, 2009, along with two episodes from The Penguins of Madagascar series: "Popcorn Panic" and "Gone in a Flash". In the first week at the DVD sales chart, Madagascar opened at No. 1, selling 1,681,938 units which translated to $27.09m in revenue. As of April 2010, 13.7 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.

The Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - Movie Storybook was written by Rob Scotton and illustrated by Michael Koelsch, and was published by HarperCollins Children's Books in 2008. Koelsch had previously illustrated the Madagascar - Movie Storybook for Scholastic in 2005.

Video game
A video game based on the film was made for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo DS, and released on November 4, 2008, in North America. The video game's gameplay is similar to the first movie's video game with the same characters and moves, although the environment is set in Africa.

Sequel
A sequel titled Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted was released on June 8, 2012. Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman are still fighting to get home to New York. This time their journey takes them to a traveling circus in Europe which they will reinvent Madagascar style.