Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) - Download Free Phim, Nhac, Phan Mem, Karaoke

conmeo · #1 (**permalink**) 10-27-2008, 10:20 AM

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Cast: Ben Stiller, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Chris Rock, Cedric the Entertainer, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Andy Richter ; DIRECTED BY: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath;

Review Summary
Hopelessly stranded on the remote shores of Madagascar, the New Yorkers hatch a plan to get back to Central Park that instead finds them soaking up sun in the picturesque plains of Africa. Madagascar may be a nice place to visit, but for the gang of animals who spent most of their lives in New York, there is truly no place like home. After discovering the remnants of a crashed airplane, the penguins quickly set about making the repairs needed to get the craft airborne again. When the plane finally takes to the sky, it begins to look like it's only a matter of time before Alex the Lion (voice of Ben Stiller) and friends are soaring over New York Harbor. Unfortunately the penguins weren't the aviation experts they claimed to be, and before long the crew is coming in for a crash-landing in the untamed plains of Africa. Now, as the animals reared in the safety of the zoo come into contact with their decidedly wild counterparts for the very first time, they get a better feel for their roots while marveling over the differences between life in the concrete jungle and life on the world's second largest continent. Of course, while there's plenty to love about wandering the open plains, romantic rivalries and the risk of running into dangerous poachers soon begin to outweigh the joys of some long-overdue family reunions. With some particularly heavy cases of homesickness causing hearts to weigh heavy, the group gradually starts to wonder whether they'll ever find their way back home. Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, and Andy Richter lend their voices to this animated sequel that re-teams original Madagascar co-directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Duck! The Penguins Are Flying the Plane

There’s a nuttier, generally more diverting entertainment creeping, crawling and waddling along the edges of “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” than the larger one lollygagging on screen. This central story of this new animated movie, written by Etan Cohen and the directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, involves Alex (Ben Stiller in low gear), a lion who in 2005 journeyed from New York captivity (i.e., a zoo) to the jungle in the first “Madagascar” with the usual mix of celebrity-voiced racial and ethnic stereotypes: a motor-mouthed zebra, Marty (Chris Rock); a nice if woefully neurotic giraffe, Melman (David Schwimmer); and the token girl, a hippo with a sizeable caboose named Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith).

Three years later Alex and company are literally ejected from Madagascar in a rickety plane operated by a penguin crew that’s led by the supremely confident, quite possibly insane Skipper (Mr. McGrath), a sleek ball of feathers and fat who simultaneously brings to mind Jon Lovitz, Phil Hartman, John Wayne and a cue ball. Along with his two sidekicks, a couple of stooges called Kowalski and Private (Chris Miller and Christopher Knights), Skipper keeps first the plane and then — after crash-landing on an African savannah — the movie moving with his deadpan delivery and with some surrealistic nonsense involving a barrel of laughing monkeys. (I see a big future for Mason and his silent partner, Phil, the two-chimp team whose lah-di-dah manners and sartorial flair recall that of the 1970s television ape, Lancelot Link.)

With King Julien, a deranged lemur whose daft non sequiturs and bon mots are dropped and dribbled with dexterity and control by an unrecognizable Sacha Baron Cohen (at times sounding like a less frantic Robin Williams), the penguins and chimps could have skittered into something memorable. Alas, the filmmakers, who clearly are having as much fun visually with these scene stealers as they are aurally, stick by the contemporary American animation playbook: Alex has a dream (gotta dance), father issues (with Bernie Mac as the pride of the pride) and a requisite baddie rival (Alec Baldwin, who else?). There’s also an unfunny old lady with a Jackie Mason accent who deserves a violently cruel end, but this is a PG movie.

Mr. Darnell and Mr. McGrath don’t appear especially committed to these stale conceits and character dynamics, which may explain why they spend so much time playing with the penguins, chimps and King Julien, who may not roar but certainly rules. There’s true playfulness here whenever this wacky animal pack takes over, a suggestion of delirium echoed by the zippy, at times overly zooming camerawork with its roller-coaster dips and swoops. And while the filmmakers throw the camera around almost as much as Brian De Palma does, every so often they slow down, giving you a chance to scan the softly muted colors of the landscapes and explore how the exaggerated character designs create a nice visual contrast with the photorealistic details and flourishes.

It’s unsurprising that Alex’s mane registers as more realistic than any of his words or emotions, but it’s also a bummer. “Escape 2 Africa” is good enough in patches to make its distracting star turns, storybook clichés and stereotypes harder to take than they would be in a less enjoyable movie. Casting Mr. Stiller and Mr. Schwimmer may sear their brands onto under-age cerebral cortices but does nothing for the movie. And, really, did the hippo (voiced by will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas) who courts Gloria with a low rumble and a suggestive shimmy have to sound like Barry White rather than, say, Marc Anthony or Justin Timberlake? I laughed, but honestly, if this country can vote colorblind surely its movie studios can animate colorblind too. (Can’t they?)

“Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” is rated PG. Parental guidance suggested. But not required.

MADAGASCAR
Escape 2 Africa

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath; written by Etan Cohen, Mr. Darnell and Mr. McGrath; music by will.i.am and Hans Zimmer; production designer, Kendal Cronkhite; produced by Mireille Soria and Mark Swift; released by DreamWorks Animation and Paramount Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes.

WITH THE VOICES OF: Ben Stiller (Alex), Chris Rock (Marty), David Schwimmer (Melman), Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria), Sacha Baron Cohen (King Julien), Cedric the Entertainer (Maurice), Andy Richter (Mort), Bernie Mac (Zuba), Sherri Shepherd (Alex’s Mom), Alec Baldwin (Makunga), Tom McGrath (Skipper), Conrad Vernon (Mason) and will.i.am (Moto Moto).