Have you ever noticed how great studio executives are at learning the wrong lesson?
When Shrek took over the box office in 2001, it naturally turned the heads of DreamWorks Animation execs (and animation-company execs in general). They sat down with the film, trying to determine just what it was that had attracted audiences. I imagine the thought process went something like this:
Was it the relatable characters? Nah.
What about the solidly-constructed script? Couldn’t be.
Perhaps it was the then-subversive idea of turning fairy tales on their head? I don’t think so.
What else could it be? What have we missed?
LOTS OF POP CULTURE REFERENCES, OF COURSE!
And so, like studio executives have done since the dawn of cinema, they took the path of least resistance. Rather than work on bedrock concepts like story and character, the execs latched onto an unimportant cosmetic change. In this case, it was joking about movies, TV, and music.
What happened as a result of this lesson? We got films like Madagascar.
As the film begins, we find our main characters living an average life in the Central Park Zoo. Alex (Ben Stiller) is a lion who loves being domesticated: he puts on shows for sellout crowds, he gets a stack of steaks every night, and he gets a cozy bed under a heat lamp. Melman (David Schwimmer) is a hypochondriac giraffe who appreciates the zoo for the constant health care. Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) is a level-headed hippopotamus who appreciates the zoo because it’s what she’s always known. However, Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) wants more out of life. He’s aware of this place called “the wild,” where animals run free and don’t have to perform every day. Marty wants to visit the wild, but his friends are more wary.
One night, Marty heads for Grand Central Station, planning to catch a train to the wild. Alex, Gloria, and Melman pursue Marty, trying to take him back to the zoo. Unfortunately, a chain of misunderstandings lead to Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria being crated up and sent to a wildlife preserve in Kenya. However, the ship is blown wildly off course (due to the zoo’s penguins hijacking the boat), landing our four leads on the shores of Madagascar.
Shortly after arriving, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria blunder upon a tribe of lemurs, led by the raucous King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen). After Alex inadvertently thwarts an attack by the lemurs’ predators – the fossa – King Julien decides to wine and dine these new creatures. After all, as long as these newcomers are around, the fossa stay away! Marty, Gloria, and Melman settle into their new environs fairly quickly. However, Alex’s transition is more rocky; he misses home, and he’s troubled by this overwhelming urge to devour his friends…
Madagscar‘s core story is a basic one, the classic fish-out-of-water story we’ve all heard and seen a dozen times. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the story is bad, however, and, actually, Madagascar‘s story structure is solid. Sadly, the script’s overloaded with pop-culture references that feel so forced that they distract from the story. (The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-O, and Planet Of The Apes jokes are particularly intruding!)
Alex, Melman, Marty, and Gloria are decent characters; nothing stellar, but they’re decent. Unfortunately, ,the voice acting smacks of laziness. Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Chris Rock, and Jada Pinkett Smith are pop culture references in and of themselves, and it’s obvious that the execs cared about nothing more than the name recognition. Stiller, Schwimmer, Rock, and Smith seem to be sleepwalking through their voice work, but I don’t blame them. They weren’t hired for their talent; they were hired for their names.
Sadly, the laziness extends to the character animation. Now, I understand that Madagascar‘s calling card is zany humor, and that calls for a certain style of animation. However, as Looney Tunes made obvious, wacky comedy and good animation marry together perfectly well. Madagascar‘s animators apparently didn’t learn that lesson, for some of the character animation in this film is truly ugly. Body parts are out of proportion, background characters are obviously unfinished, and the character movement occasionally looks stiff.
I mean, take a look at this shot. That chin is ridiculous!
However, Madagascar does have one saving grace: the penguins! Skipper, Nico, Kowalski, and Private are only in the film briefly, but they steal every scene. The four characters have such a great chemistry together, and it’s a lot of fun to watch them combine forces to tunnel out of the zoo, hijack a freighter, pilot it to Antarctica, and then sail it back to Africa. I love every scene the penguins are in. It’s easy to see why they became a phenomenon!
I used to love Madagascar during my teen years, so I was sad to see that it doesn’t hold up well. However, the film does boast a solid story, decent characters, and those four penguins, so it’s not a total wash. If it’s been a while since you’ve seen the film, it’s probably worth a re-watch; it’s not painfully bad. However, there’s no doubt (in my mind, anyway) that this is one of DreamWorks Animation’s lesser efforts.
How about you? What do you think of Madagascar? Let us know in the comments!
Edited by: Hannah Wilkes
