Totally agree with filmore on all points. Not memorable or particularly well written. A few cute gags and some nice animation, but that’s all.
I liked “Country Bears”. 
zombie voice
I laughed.
I cried.
It was better than ‘Cats’.
Actually, I really enjoyed ‘Madagascar’, though I would agree it’s not for young kids under 8. It was predictable, feh, but what movie isn’t anymore? The references were great, like the New York Giants and Oy Vey! and it held my attention. The lemurs were great, especially the baby voiced by Andy Richter. I loved the matter of fact way Julian referred to ‘the people’. I intend to see it again.
And the sequel must be solely about the penguins. Well, and the monkeys, too.
I want a penguin army.
That is all.
The penguins are psychotic.
I thought it was quite funny. I’m going to buy it when it hits DVD. SWMBO and I had some really good belly laughs watching it.
Don’t make me come up there, I’ll get to whuppin’ on both o’ y’all.
I saw it last night. Funniest gag was the lemur holding up a book entitled To Serve Lemur and screaming “it’s a cookbook, it’s a cookbook!” I’m sure the gag was definitely mostly lost on the under forty crowd.
Hey, I thought that was the best joke too and I’m only 27.
The movie was OK but I agree with all those who said it was nothing but gags. No strong plot what-so-ever. I’d buy it on DVD though. It’s a good rainy day movie.
I’m going to disagree with you on the age range, and so are my 5-year-old and 6-year-old.
Sure, they didn’t get half of the references, but that’s true for most of the good cartoons they watch (check out Fairly Oddparents some time – a goodly chunk of it is *not *aimed at the kids). There was nothing inappropriate for them, including the references to Alex eating the other animals (which I’m not going to spoiler box, as it’s in the trailer). They laughed at many of the jokes and had a great time with the slapstick comedy. Is it the best movie ever? Heck no. Is it as surprisingly good as Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius? Not quite. But did it entertain me? Yep.
And I’d have paid the full admission price just for King Julian, the monkeys and the penguins.
My tip: If you go, stay for the credits – there is a reprise of “Move It” with all of the characters dancing, including many of the incidentals.
I thought the voices, except for the penguins, the monkey’s and the Lemur king, were awful. the baby fuzzy lemur was spot on.
The penguins were the highlight. The monkey’s needed more air time, way underused in the gag department. The lemurs were funny, but what in the hell was with the king’s accent? We were at the drive-in with the kids and I could not get a firm handle on it at all. Was he jamaican or french or French jamaican gay combo?
I think the lion should have had a more New York sounding voice without getting Pacino or Deniro. Adrian Brody comes to mind or John Leguiziamo. Or a more manly voice, like Russell Crowe doing a Brooklyn accent, if he didn’t mumble so much.
The hippo was blah. Jada Pinkett Smith does not emote hippo well. Jack Black could do a hippo. But, they needed a token female without really any plot force
( other than her gut busting weight.)
Melman had some great moments and it is funny to think of a jewish giraffe, but it was like he was channelling Woody Allen or something.
I hated the Zebra. I don’t know why, but I just hated him. Maybe I am tired of Chris Rock’s same old-same old.
This was slightly better than Lilo & Stitch ( which was just awful), way-way better than Shark Tales ( which lacked any focus and was too busy overall trying to get the Happy Meal deal than to realize it isn’t a kids flick.) It isn’t The Incredibles or Shrek 1-2 by a long shot.
I give it a 4.5.
The penguins definately rocked. They get a 10 because they popped in when you didn’t expect them and didn’t overstay their visit.
I am tired. Write my next post, Shirley. Faster you monkey.
Noooooooo. The chimps were where it was at. I’m a sucker for a poo flinging joke. Sadly underused, the chimps were. I call it a tragedy.
I was disappointed. I felt like the best parts were in the trailer.
There was just no story to keep me interested. Character development was weak and the celebrity voices were meh.
I agree with the earlier comment comparing DreamWorks to Pixar. It’s like comparing night and day.
I would say that I was underwhelmed but not particularly disappointed since I didn’t have any big expectations. The kids (4th birthday) enjoyed it, but I doubt they understood it. I think Sirley Ujest has adequately summed up my thoughts on this.
Shirley, I had the same argument about King Julian with my wife and Dad. They insist it was an Indian accent. So much so that my wife said that if she didn’t know that Peter Sellers was dead, she would think it was Hrundi V. Bakshi from The Party. I maintain that it was some sort of Spanish/African hybrid.
I thought it was an Indian accent, too, and I’m Indian. You may take that for whatever it’s worth.
Just saw it today. I had to wait as I had passes and at first its nopass. I liked it;I agree, though, the penguins were best. Also, I found the solution to Alex’s hunger was a cop-out.
I didn’t see that. It was toughyly logical within the confines of the movie.
-part spoiler-
[spoiler]Of course, it wouldn have been much better to see a horrified school of fish swimming in terror away from the penguins. And then maybe a gag scene with the trees trembling when Melmen and GLoria eat them! [spoiler]
Problem is, they couldn’t decide what kind of movie hey want to have. It needs to be either a huge pop-culture fest and just run with it completely or do Pixar and play everything more or less straght within the bounds of the movie itself.
Actually I heard this was Pixar’s answer to criticisms that themes in its movies had become too dark and the references for adults too many.
I loved the premise but there were great story possiblities that were left untouched.
It’s like they had to tack on a resolution last minute. Terrible. A few funny jokes though. It’s ashame that a premise like this has been blown on a really average movie.