Madagascar (Widescreen Edition) | 
| Director: Tom Mcgrath (vii)
Actors: Stephen Apostolina, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cody Cameron, Cedric The Entertainer, David Cowgill
Studio: Dreamworks Animated
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $12.83
You Save: $7.16 (36%)
New (61) Used (24) Collectible (3) from $10.50
Rating:  345 reviews
Sales Rank: 236
Format: Ac-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: DRWD94566D
ISBN: 1417073535
UPC: 678149456622
EAN: 9781417073535
ASIN: B00005JNX0
Theatrical Release Date: May 27, 2005
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
At new yorks central park zoo a lion a zebra a giraffe & a hippo are best friends & stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing from their cage the other 3 break free to look for him only to find themselves reunited .. On a ship en route to africa. They will learn what life in the wild is like. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Ben Stiller Jada Pinkett Smith Run time: 86 minutes Rating: Pg
Amazon.com
The penguins steal the show. In the sprightly Madagascar, a mid-life crisis inspires Marty the Zebra (voiced by Chris Rock) to escape from his lifelong home, a New York zoo. His equally pampered friends--Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer)--then escape to bring him back. Unfortunately, their attempt at damage control persuades zoo officials that the animals are unhappy, so all four get shipped to an animal preserve in Kenya...only a squad of maniacal penguins change the destination to Antarctica. The quartet end up on an island where, in addition to meeting some hedonistic lemurs, they learn about the food chain--and that Alex is a different link on the chain from the other three. Madagascar doesn't achieve the snappy perfection of a Pixar movie, but it tops most other computer-animated efforts; the collision of friendship and predator instincts makes for an unusually gripping conflict. The vocal performances of the central characters is serviceable, but Sacha Baron Cohen (Da Ali G Show) provides topnotch lunacy as the lemur king, and the penguins--voiced mostly by the animators themselves--are the best thing in the movie. --Bret Fetzer
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 340 more reviews...
 Laugh Out Loud Funny May 31, 2005
Graboidz (Westminster, Maryland)
171 out of 185 found this review helpful
I have to admit I was underwhelmed by the ads for "Madagascar", it just didn't look that good. But my kids were anxious to see it so I dragged myself into the theater on Saturday ready to see another kiddie movie along the lines of "Shark Tale" or "Home on the Range". I did not expect to enjoy the movie as much as my seven year old....if not more. "Madagascar" is not only a great animated film and packs as many laughs into it's hour and half as either "Shrek" movie did, "Madagascar" is just a great comedy. There were several times in the movie that were just laugh out loud funny, the scene with the Penguins in Antarctica was worth the price of admission for me! There are plenty of jokes aimed at an older audience, like the reference to "The Twilight Zone" episode "How to Serve Man". The story is great and the characters are really fun. The visuals are stunning and the animation is top-notch. Add all that together with a great soundtrack, and I think "Madagascar" is a great way to kick off the summer movie season. This one ranks right up there with "The Incredibles" and "Shrek".
Amusing Fun for Young and Old May 31, 2005
thornhillatthemovies.com (Venice, CA United States)
18 out of 22 found this review helpful
Recent animated efforts have tried to create 3-D characters and environments, but the filmmakers have wisely chosen another course for "Madagascar". Adopting a stylized form of animation, the film looks like a living picture book. Everything is cartoonier than we are used to. Alex, Marty and Melman are still rendered in 3-D, but they are not lifelike and appear to be adapted from a children's book, actually adding to the humor. These characters look like stuffed animals and its funny to watch little kids carrying a small toy of Alex home after their visit to the zoo. They seem more believable as zoo animals and they are certainly cute as the dickens.
In all animated films today, a certain level of irreverence, of zaniness is expected. "Madagascar" doesn't reach the heights of the "Shrek" films, but it comes darn close. Everything from Tom Wolfe to "The Twilight Zone", "American Beauty" to "The Planet of the Apes" is parodied in the film. Most of the kids won't get these jokes and the filmmakers know that. They are included for the adults, to keep them interested in the story. The mark of a great animated film is if both adults and children enjoy the experience. For instance, "The Incredibles" was a fantastic blend of story, action, character and humor which will continue to delight people of all ages. "Madagascar" has a very funny story, great characters, and a lot of humor. On a couple of occasions, the story was a little slow, but I think all of the other areas more than compensate for any shortcomings. And adults will laugh at many of the jokes, probably more so than the kids in the audience.
Ben Stiller and Chris Rock are very good. David Schwimmer seems to be injecting a lot of Ross from "Friends" into the role of Melman, not very original but it works. The real standouts are Tom McGrath and Sacha Baron Cohen.
There are a couple of brilliant additions to the film, which help it rise above. Marty's ideas of visiting the wild are originally fed by Skipper the Penguin (Tom McGrath). Skipper and his sidekicks, two other penguins, are determined to break out of the zoo and return to Antarctica. They skulk around corners like CIA operatives, act in clandestine ways, and manage to accomplish most of their goals. The penguins are a brilliant addition to the story and really liven up the proceedings. I laughed out loud during most of their appearances. For a while, their story takes them in a different direction from the rest of the gang and we lose track of them. Because they are so funny, you long for their return.
When the animals land in Madagascar, they meet King Julian the lemur (Sacha Baron Cohen, TV's "Ali G") and Maurice, his right hand lemur (Cedric the Entertainer) and their entire kingdom of lemurs. Cohen seemed to be channeling the spirit of Peter Sellers, because his voice was an uncanny reproduction of some of Seller's characters. He is very funny as the King, always working on an angle as he tries to figure things out. The Lemurs add a level of frenetic activity and zaniness to the film, ratcheting the humor up a few notches.
The least interesting voice actor is Jada Pinkett Smith. She simply doesn't add anything to the character. IMDb.com lists a handful of other people who were considered for the role and I have to say that I don't think any of them would have made a significant contribution either. A comedian would have been a nice touch. Instead, Gloria seems to be the lone voice of reason among the group, dragging everything down.
"Madagascar" is a really good, very funny film suitable for the entire family. But it is also a great choice if you are with a date or simply alone and want to watch a funny film. You'll enjoy it.
 Remember, cute and cuddly, boys. Cute and cuddly. June 19, 2005
A. Gyurisin (Wet, Wild, Wonderful Virginia)
12 out of 23 found this review helpful
I would have to disagree with most critics about this film. This was not a boring film at all ... it was pointless. I literally walked out of this viewing trying to think about what this film was all about. It wasn't that it was confusing in any way (honestly, overly simple), it was just that NOTHING HAPPENED. Normally, in cinema, you have an introduction, something happens, it tries to get resolved, then you have that climactic ending that everyone talks about for weeks. None of this happened in Madagascar. For an hour and twenty minutes I sat, nearly falling asleep, as decently animated creatures used horrid voices and cliched references to move the plot of the story. Throw in an overused song and some semi-racist moments, and you have the film called Madagascar. Pointless indeed.
In contrast to what everyone else seems to think about the animation of this film, I was impressed. It was a different style than what was used in Dreamworks other works like Shark Tales and Shrek. Instead, the animation on this film seemed more comic, as if I was reading the story that was taking place directly from my morning newspaper. It seemed flat, and to me, it worked. I really liked the way that Alex the lion looked, and the way that the animators drew him. In a world so infused with CGI and computer animation, this seemed and felt like it was a step backwards. It felt more like the animation of what Disney used to create, which appealed to me. Sadly, that was all that appealed to me about the film. Visually I was on board allowing my eyes to enjoy the moments, but with everything else it seemed overdone, cliched, and pointless.
Sadly, unlike most films, the bad outweighs the good in this film. Outside of the plot being completely pointless, the actors who voiced our characters did not give us anything worth remembering. Ben Stiller is overused, and with his current influx in the film market, I only see his stock going bottom-up in the near future. Chris Rock managed to squeak out his worst performance in years as a one-dimensional character that focus' solely on himself. With no emotion or care, it seemed like every word out of his mouth embodied some racial stereotype that was toned down for a PG or kid-friendly audience. To add to more of the pointless nature of the film was Jada Pinkett Smith, who proved that Will is the breadwinner for the family. Her character was so underdeveloped that I nearly forgot that she was in the film after the opening credit sequence. Everyone was shallow, unsubstantial, and just your seemingly overused technique in the film industry. I was surprised that anyone was able to take these actors for any more then ten minutes, much less an hour and a half.
I am getting tired of the Pro-American; New York City has so much tragedy, moments in movies. While I will agree that what happened on September 11th was horrid in nature, there is no reason to announce that New York is the best city in the world. I live in a wonderful city, that has a zoo, and probably has animals that would have acted just like these in Madagascar, but instead I had to watch as pro-New York actors did whatever they could to promote a city that needs no more screen time. I am just so tired of this in movies and Madagascar seemed to drill it in even more. I think it had to do with the fact that there was no story present to overwhelm these slight discomforting moments. In most films you have an engrossing story that sometimes patches these slow moments where jokes becomes drills and instead of laughing you get headaches. With Madagascar there was no story, so we were forced for an hour and a half to listen to jokes that were not funny. How old is the film Castaway? Did we need to use this joke in this film? Oh, and if that joke didn't work, how about the overuse of words like "crack-a-lackin" which sent a shiver down my spine every time that zebra said it. Poor writing lead to a non-existent story, which ultimately lead to me nearly falling asleep in this film.
Finally, the penguins were the life of this film, and we could have used more screen time with them. In fact, if the entire film were to be made on just these little tuxedoed creatures, I would be the first in line to see it. They were cute, actually had funny lines, and highlighted some of the more creative scenes of the film. The same could be said for the monkey's that somehow were forgotten about. There were some really creative moments to this film that were just overshadowed by the horrid rank of the rest of the film. For example, one of my favorite moments (and only moment) was when Alex picked up the phone to call for help, and all the humans heard were growls. That was an interesting concept that could have been built up a bit more, but instead, we were forced to witness growing scenes with "We like to move it, move it" being overplayed in the background. That song was just another hole in this already sinking ship.
Overall, I was not impressed and thought this was one of the worst children's films released in years. From the poorly valued voices to the completely missing plot, this film gave kids the impression that if you go against who you are truly meant to be, to want to be out in the wild and be yourself, well...be prepared to loose friends. This film was a disgrace to children and vegetarians everywhere!
Grade: * out of *****
What a lame movie. May 29, 2005
J. J. Chiappelli (Pasadena, MD)
10 out of 26 found this review helpful
Have you ever gone into a movie theater, cleared out your mind of any nagging thoughts, and then said to yourself, "I'm going to just try not to over-analyze this and have some popcorn-movie fun?" And then, when the movie was about 30 minutes into it, you realized that you were so bored that you would actually prefer to just nitpick and be angry because over-analyzing the movie would be more fun than just kicking back? That's how "Madagascar" is. It's dull, boring, bland, insipid, and any other synonym you can think of. Even the plot sounds like something an amateur kids' book author was trying to come up with:
"Hmm... how about Alex the Lion and Marty the Zebra try to escape the zoo? That should be worth a lot of laughs!"
As a fun, breezy comedy, the movie fails in an astonishing way. As a commentary on the conflicts of civilization versus nature and the ethics of vegetarianism, it's terrible, but at least it provides you with some good material to make fun of. You know you're in trouble when you have more fun pointing out the lack of logic in a zany comedy than you have enjoying the zaniness.
The jokes in "Madagascar" can be divided chiefly into three categories: poo jokes, movie references, and slapstick. The sad thing is, the poo jokes are actually the only funny parts of the movie, and there's only three or four of them. The movie references are just dumb---they leave you wishing that the movie tried to parody other movies instead of simply referencing them.
The slapstick, which comprises roughly 85% of the movie, fails because it breaks one of the rules of comedy: wacky antics only work when you have at least one "straight" character. Having two clowns jump all over the screen honking horns at each other and throwing pies into their faces isn't funny because they're both manic. After a couple of seconds, "manic" becomes the norm and there's nothing left to surprise you. Humor comes from something unusual or different that jumps out at you and you go, "Wow, that was odd. And funny!" Instead of two clowns, you have two guys in business suits conducting a boring meeting in an office, and then one of them randomly pulls out a pie and throws it at the other.
"Madagascar" ruins this by having nothing BUT manic characters. There are no straight characters in the movie---everybody is full of too much energy. The four main characters simply fight with each other for more attention from the camera, and instead of trying to do anything clever and funny, they just get more and more "zany." It works for about two minutes before the movie just gets completely dull.
If you are a very young child, then you'll like all the flashy colors and the bounciness and wackiness. You'll want to see it all again and again for hours. But "Madagascar" is the sort of movie that you'll watch again when you've turned 23 and you'll say, "Wow, I was stupid when I was a kid."
The movie has one saving grace, which is unfortunately neglected. The penguins steal the show; unlike the rest of the cast, the penguins switch off between being calm, collected, straight characters and over-the-top, zany, wacky characters. They are consistently funny and also the most adorable of all the animals. In every scene they appear, you wish that the movie was about them. Unfortunately, they only have about four minutes of screen-time in total. A true waste of a good concept.
Jameson Thottam: Animation Review of Madagascar November 6, 2005
Jameson L. Thottam (Houston, TX)
9 out of 14 found this review helpful
Jameson Thottam: Animation Review of Madagascar
We've now reached the point in the CG cycle where we no longer ask "Is it as good as Pixar?" The new question regarding computer animation movies is "Is it better than Shark Tale?" And considering that "Madagascar" is the next CG family comedy from DreamWorks, after the aggressively unpleasant "Shark Tale," the question takes on a little more relevance. Two "Shark Tale"s in a row would be a sign of even worse things to come. So it's with much relief and a mild thumbs-up that I assure you: "Madagascar" is, indeed, better than "Shark Tale."
Since every single CGI family flick is practically guaranteed 150 million bucks at the box office, and this review is therefore entirely unnecessary and actually kind of pointless, I'll keep the review brief.
Kid Fun - Jameson L. Thottam
If you've got a kid under the age of 12, you'll want to take them to see Madagascar, because they'll probably have a darn good time with it. OK, I know that's not all that lofty of an endorsement; kids are notorious for loving just about any ol' cartoon that's laden with pratfalls, animals, and kooky sound effects. But Madagascar proves to be just charming and witty enough to keep the grown-ups entertained while the rugrats fall into the aisles in peals of hysterical laughter.
That Old Black Pixar Magic: Jameson Luke Thottam
That's not to imply that Madagascar comes close to achieving that seemingly patented brand of Pixar Magic. No, the Pixar movies are clearly in a class by themselves. While something like The Incredibles offers layer upon layer of stunningly satisfying cinematic goodness, a movie like Madagascar is all about high-end animation, amiable silliness, and a whole lot of physical schtick.
Storyline: Jameson L. Thottam
Madagascar is about four goofy animals who (unwittingly) escape from their Central Park zoo, travel across the ocean, and ultimately end up stranded in a deep, dark jungle. Our heroes are a lion (Ben Stiller), a zebra (Chris Rock, a hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and a giraffe (David Schwimmer). There are a few rather aimless plot threads about finding one's roots, being loyal to friends, and learning how to deal with the fact that you just might be hungry enough to eat your best friend -- but Madagascar is less about plot than it is about silly animals doing goofy things.
Voices from the Past: Jameson L Thottam
Aside from Schwimmer, the voice-actors seem content to just play themselves, which makes an ironic point: these rather expensive leading men are among the movie's biggest detriments. Say what you will about Mike Myers' Shrek, but at least that guy's using a different voice to help create an animated character. So not for even a second are you "getting to know" this lion and that zebra. You're just listening to Ben Stiller and Chris Rock as their words spill out of animated mammals. Tough gig, eh fellas?
I'm sorry but "voice acting" and "speaking into a microphone" are not exactly the same thing. And it's irritating that a guy like Ben Stiller can just monotone his way through a performance and earn a huge paycheck while someone like, say, Billy West could have done something truly hilarious with this role.
But there's some good news on the other side of the coin: Andy Richter gets a lot of solid laughs as a devious penguin, and Sacha Cohen absolutely steals the entire movie as a lunatic lemur. Toss in a few hilarious gags from a pair of wise-guy monkeys, and you're looking at a supporting cast that upstages the stars with no effort whatsoever. OK, fair's fair: David Schwimmer really does have a great voice for animated comedies, but I still stand by this opinion: Nearly all of Madagascar's laughs come from the supporting characters, and from a movie that stars Ben Stiller and Chris Rock, that's a pretty telling statement.
Chuckles for all generations: Jameson Thottam
Parents, you already know if your kids are going to be dragging you into "Madagascar," so I'll save you some stress by telling you that the flick made me laugh with a fairly surprising consistency. Many of the film's best chuckles come courtesy of the fast-paced animation style -- and the rest come from the background penguins, monkeys, and lemurs. My humble advice to the DreamWorks Animation Bureau would simply be this: skip the A-list voice-actors the next time out. The kids are going to line up around the block either way, and without all that excess salary and ego, you're inevitably bound to make a better movie.
Jameson Luke Thottam
|
|
|
