Story
Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) have enjoyed their time on Madagascar, but they decide that it is time to go home to New York’s Central Park Zoo. Their resourceful penguin friends build an aircraft that can barely fly. It launches them all into a turbulent, terrifying and short-lived flight. Along for the ride are Madagascar lemurs King Julian (Sacha Baron Cohen), Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer) and Mort. When they finally crash land, they discover they are in their mother country, Africa.
After a few more misadventures with some intrepid New York tourists, the animals meet the local wildlife. Alex reunites with his mother and father, Zuba (Bernie Mac), from whom he was separated as a cub. Alex discovers his father is the king of the lion pride, and is also tricked by his father’s rival, Makunga (Alec Baldwin), into participating in the lion rite of passage. Alex’s misunderstanding of the tradition results in his failure, his family’s subsequent banishment from the protection of the animal reserve, and Makunga’s wrongful succession to the kingship.
Meanwhile, Marty, Melman and Gloria are also thrilled to reunite with their own kind. But they too face identity crises, which place a strain on their relationships with each other. When the animal reserve suddenly loses its water supply, the four friends overcome and value their differences in order to hatch a plan to save their new extended family.
Themes
Separation from a parent; animal distress
Violence
There is some violence in this movie. For example:
Sexual references
None of concern
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie contains some use of substances. For example:
- King Julian and Maurice are seated in First Class in the plane, where champagne is to be served. They are not seen drinking.
- King Julian has a cocktail and is later seen to be staggering around, before collapsing unconscious (briefly depicted only).
Nudity and sexual activity
This movie contains some nudity and sexual activity. For example, a monkey kisses a penguin on the beak, much to the surprise of the penguin.
Product placement
This movie contains a reference to iPods.
Coarse language
This movie contains some very mild coarse language.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a light-hearted animated comedy that will have broad appeal, although some scenes may be disturbing for younger children.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include:
- friends and family sticking together through good and bad times
- finding your true identity, not being defined by other people’s expectations, and being proud of your own abilities and qualities
- true courage and bravery.
This movie could also give you the opportunity to discuss with your children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:
- using violence as a means to resolve arguments
- lying and being deceitful to manipulate people.