Madagascar

Frustrated that he knows nothing of his roots and whether he’s "black with white stripes or white with black stripes," birthday zebra Marty (Chris Rock) decides that enough is enough and sets off to experience 'the wild.' However, when his escape attempt goes horribly wrong, he and fellow New York Zoo inmates Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), hypochondriac giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and hippopotamus Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) find themselves missing their easy life of captivity when they wash up on Madagascar.

First and foremost, this movie is aimed at children. Adults going to see Madagascar with expectations of seeing the next Shrek simply because it comes from DreamWorks Animation should prepare to be sorely disappointed. The latter had witty dialogue containing plenteous references to popular culture, innuendo and basically enough adult-directed humour to keep parents laughing along with the kids throughout, albeit not at the same things. In Madagascar, the appeal lies much more in sight gags and impressive animation than in wit.

That said, what the movie does offer is innocent and lightweight family fun. Taken on its own merits rather than being compared to its more universally-pleasing predecessors, the film does have a lot to commend it. All of the voice acting is more than competent, and the animation is even more impressive.

Despite performances being good, the actors suffer from less-than-great material to work from, as the characters are never really developed aside from Alex’s realisation of his carnivorous impulses on the island itself. Having befriended a lemur group on the island, led by Sacha Baron Cohen, the lion begins to alienate himself as "a monster" when he feels compelled to eat his old and new friends. This interesting premise is unfortunately comes to fruition a little late considering the relatively eventless section preceding it in which the castaways sit around moaning about their predicament. Even though the characterisation is a little lacking, we care about them enough for the final few scenes to be touching.

Equally, the script itself is often found lacking, with many jokes that can’t be aimed at children but simply aren't funny for adults either. The lack of wit in the script leaves the audience entertaining itself with the inspired animation, which holds loads of beautiful touches. Meanwhile, kids are entertained by the constant slapstick. Much of the verbal humour that is to be found is provided by a group of special operations penguins and the lemurs which are joy to watch throughout.

Madagascar is by no means destined to be a classic and may not have as much going for it in terms of adult-oriented humour as other family films but is still sure to keep parents happy throughout whilst really entertaining the kids.