Madagascar Escape 2 Africa, a movie review

Combine rain with a no-school day, and what do you get? A mob scene at the local movie theater. No parking spaces, long lines, it was like going to a movie in L.A., without the smog or the parking fees.

Should you go see it? For a kid’s movie sequel, I’d say it wasn’t bad. I laughed out loud a few times and felt it mostly moved along fine. But I have to ask: are these things getting louder? With more choppy action scenes? I was tired by the end. And the Kid had several breakdowns from the moment we left the theater, but that could be coming down from her Junior Mint high.

As with the first Madagascar, those penguins stole the show. Shana and I totally agree on that. The penguins fly the gang out of Madagascar and end up in Africa. At first (perhaps an homage to Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods???), they think they’ve found all that they’re looking for: wild animals that look like them, a place they belong, a place they are from, a beautiful setting, all that good stuff. Alas, it was too early in the movie for a happy ending.

I thought overall the movie was a little intense (from my third row seat) in terms of action, noise, music, and there were a few fight scenes with a crazy old lady New Yorker with a pocketbook (and a rifle later) against the animals. So sensitive middle-aged parents youngsters might be overwhelmed. The crazy mob of kids in the theater, however, enjoyed it.

I also appreciated the “being different is okay” theme and the “finding love with someone different” theme, especially in this current Prop 8 world. Warning: interspecies love involved!

In sum, I mostly grinned, laughed a little and didn’t groan, so go see it with your kids. You could do much worse.

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