Review of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) by Filipeneto — 18 Jun 2018

Usually, when a film achieves remarkable financial success, the film industry arranges for space for one or two sequels. This is what happened with "Madagascar", but the sequel was able to maintain the initial level of quality.

In this film, the attempt of the four zoo animals to return to the US fails and, by great coincidence (this only happens in the films), they end up falling in Central Africa, in the animal reserve where Alex was born, which allows him to know his parents and origins.

The film is very good and fun, it retains most of the cast and voice actors of the original film and adds or recovers some characters, such as the Elder Lady, who gains some protagonism here, alongside Alex's parents.

I also noticed that some characters who, in the initial movie, were secondary, were now approached for a more central space, a measure that was certainly the response to the affection they gained from the public.

This is the case, for example, of King Julian. The four central characters do not change much, but the script tried to give them more space and attention to counterbalance the weight of several charismatic secondary characters.

The script recaptures an old tradition of animated films and creates moments where it conveys moralistic messages, especially regarding the differences between individuals (the events between Melman and Gloria and Marty's dilemma with the other zebras are just two examples).

Personally, I have nothing against this militancy implied in the film. Voice actors continue to perform flawlessly, as well as drawings, animations, and cinematography. Oddly enough, this movie is very poor in music or great songs.

There are some, but none deserve particular attention.