Madagascar (2005 film)

Infobox Film
name = Madagascar


caption = Theatrical Poster.
director = Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath
producer = Mireille Soria
writer = Mark Burton
Billy Frolick
Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath
starring = Chris Rock
Ben Stiller
Jada Pinkett Smith
David Schwimmer
Sacha Baron Cohen
Cedric the Entertainer
Andy Richter
editing = Clare De Chenu
Mark A. Hester
H. Lee Peterson
music = Hans Zimmer
distributor = DreamWorks
released = flagicon|USA May 27, 2005
runtime = 86 minutes
language = English
country = United States
budget = $78,000,000
gross = $532,680,674
imdb_id = 0351283
website = http://www.madagascar-themovie.com/
followed_by = ""

"Madagascar" is a 2005 computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation, and released in movie theaters on May 272005. The film tells the story of four Central Park Zoo animals who have spent their lives in blissful captivity and are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa, getting shipwrecked on the island of Madagascar. The voices of Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock and David Schwimmer are featured. Other voices include Andy Richter, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Cedric the Entertainer. "Madagascar" was released on DVD on November 15, 2005, along with the short film, "The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper". A Blu-ray Disc version was released on September 23, 2008. A sequel, "", has finished production and is slated for November 7, 2008.

Plot

Alex the lion, Marty the starry-eyed zebra, Melman the hypochondriac giraffe and Gloria the "hip" hippo all have a pampered life at the Central Park Zoo, New York City. Here they show off to the crowds and generally enjoy themselves. But Marty who is celebrating his tenth birthday, longs to see the rest of the world, and dreams of life in the wild. When he learns that the zoo's penguins are planning to escape, he decides to follow suit and return by morning. He has a vague notion that the wild can be found in Connecticut as Melman told him that there were some wide open spaces resembling the wild. So one night he sneaks out of the zoo, and sets off on foot for Grand Central Terminal where he hopes to take the Metro-North Railroad to Connecticut.

When the others find him gone, they head for Grand Central Station via the Subway to try and get him back. Arriving at Grand Central, they scare away most of the passengers (except for one determined old lady who assaults Alex by bashing his head and his groin with her handbag), and catch Marty. Then they manage to wreck the information desk before being shot with tranquilizer darts, along with the penguins, Mason and Phil (two chimpanzees who also escaped). Anti-zoo campaigners use the incident as evidence that animals should not be locked up. Because of this, all the animals soon find themselves in wooden crates aboard a cargo ship to Kenya.

The penguins succeed in taking over the ship and changing its course, following their initial plan of making their way to Antarctica. During the penguins' takeover, the crates containing Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria fall overboard and they become separated on the ocean. Alex is soon washed ashore on a tropical beach. All night he is alone, but in the morning, finds Melman stuck in his crate. Gloria and Marty soon wash ashore on the same beach. At first Melman assumes they are in San Diego, California, and Alex is upset that he will be outshone by Shamu. But when they discover a large tribe of lemurs led by King Julien XIII (voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen), they realize they are not in the United States anymore. They are actually in the wild, on the island of Madagascar.

Alex blames Marty for the group's situation and divides the island between them. Forcing Gloria and Melman to help him build a Statue of Liberty lookalike. His plan is to ignite the beacon, therefore making it easy for the boat (which Alex believes is coming to rescue them), to see where they are. However Melman accidentally sets the whole statue on fire and destroys it (in a Planet of the Apes parody). Gloria and Melman then decide to join Marty (who is living comfortably on his side of the island), and Alex soon realizes that he has been unfair to his friend. Deciding to join the others, and begin life on Madagascar.

Meanwhile the penguins have arrived on the snowbound, windswept Antarctica. After surveying it for a few moments, they decide that it is not as interesting as they thought it would be when Private yells, "Well, this sucks."

Julien hopes that the lemurs' new friends, whom he calls the "New York Giants", will scare away the foosa, enemies of the lemurs who prey on them. Despite the protests of his advisor Maurice (who thinks that Alex as a carnivore, might be dangerous), Julien convinces the lemurs to welcome Marty and the others to their own little corner of paradise.

Unfortunately Alex, who has only ever eaten pre-cut steaks until now, is beginning to regain his natural predatory instincts. After losing control and attacking Marty, he is considered too dangerous to be a friend to his zoomates or to any of the lemurs. Julien admits that Maurice has some sense in fearing Alex, and banishes the lion to the side of the island dominated by the foosa, just before everyone ends up running for their lives. Alex comes to his senses for a time after a knock on the head by a coconut thrown by Maurice, and makes the decision to leave his friends behind rather than do something he'd later regret. Marty, now completely aware of the predatory nature of life in the wild, is devastated at the realization of what is happening to him.

The penguins, leaving Antartica behind, soon arrive at Madagascar with the ship. Realizing this may be a way back into New York, Marty goes to find Alex (against Gloria's advice). He ends up deep in foosa territory where he unsuccessfully tries to get Alex to come with him. The foosa eventually attack and soon he, Melman, Gloria and the penguins (who showed up to save the three) end up fighting for their lives. Hopelessly outnumbered by the hungry creatures, Alex appears. At first he seems to have completely returned to his hunting instincts and claims Marty as his own prey. But this turns out to be a ruse: Alex "has" managed to overcome his predatory instincts. Using the foosa's natural fear of him, Alex drives the predators away from lemur territory forever.

Following a celebratory feast, at which Alex's hunger is finally sated by the discovery that he likes sushi even better than steak, the friends return to the ship. The penguins, who stayed behind, decide not to tell them that the ship is out of fuel.

Characters

Ben Stiller as Alex the Lion, the most popular animal in the New York City zoo. Nicknamed "The King of New York", he is quite against staying in the wild and tries to get everyone to go back to the New York City zoo. He just loves eating steaks but has no idea what they actually are made of.

Chris Rock as Marty the Zebra, the instigator behind everyone's adventure on Madagascar. He constantly dreams about the wild and wonders what life would be like beyond the zoo (unlike Alex who is satisfied with how things are). One night, following the successful escape of the penguins, he leaves the zoo causing his friends to try and rescue him. When caught, animal rights activists have them shipped to a wildlife preserve in Kenya. But the penguins hijack the ship and accidentally cause the crates containing Marty and his friends to fall off. The crates float on the ocean until they reach Madagascar.

David Schwimmer as Melman the Giraffe, a hypochondriac giraffe who was transferred to the Central Park Zoo as a young adult. Because of his previous stay in the Bronx Zoo, Melman believes that he's a real worldly guy, the most experienced in his circle of friends. He's also on a lot of medication.

Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria the Hippo, a sassy, hip Hippopotamus with a big heart and a sharp tongue. Gloria serves as the mediator and the nurturer of the group

The Penguins (Subsequently billed as "The Madagascar Penguins"), consisting of Skipper (Tom McGrath), Rico (John DiMaggio), Kowalski (Chris Miller), and Private(Christopher Knights), are four penguins who spend their days planning an escape that will take them back to Antarctica. When the penguins do make it to Antarctica, they are surprised to see a cold, barren land that they do not like and so, decide to take the ship to what they consider "paradise": Florida. However, having run out of fuel, they beach the ship in Madagascar.

Skipper is the leader of the group. Kowalski, the smartest and tallest of the penguins, thinks of plans and takes notes for Skipper. Private is distinguishable by his googly eyes and soft English accent; he is the youngest of the group. Rico is good with knives, has a fondness for explosives, and is the only one of the four seen swimming. He also regurgitates useful objects such as a piece of wire for picking locks with. Alex describes the penguins as psychotic (while they say the same of him). Skipper calls Marty their "monochromatic friend", amusing since both kinds of animals are "black and white".

Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien XIII the Ring-tailed Lemur, the self-proclaimed King of the Madagascar lemurs. Julien speaks with an Indian accent and loves to sing, dance, and be the center of attention. Julien is annoyed by the lemur Mort and even suggested feeding him to Alex in order to help him get over his addiction to steak. He uses a crown made out of leaves, and later a larger crown that features a gecko (named Stevie) to denote his royal stature. The other lemurs hang on his every word. He is slightly deranged and overly impressed by his modest intellect. Julien is also very weird and dramatic, saying that everyone is steak when his plan to befriend Alex fails. He contrives to use Alex to protect the lemurs from their natural enemy, the foosa, as long as Alex doesn't overshadow his own glory. Also, according to the song "I Like to Move It" King Julien XIII is about 68 years old. According to a May 26, 2005 interview with Director Tom McGrath in the Seattle Post Intelligencer [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/225746_moment26.html] , "We had this two-line character, Julian [sic] , and we got a tape of the show 'Ali G' with Sacha Baron Cohen. He came in and he invented this Indian accent. We gave him a couple of lines and he turned them into eight minutes of dialogue. We were just in tears on the floor and thought, 'This guy has to be the king.' So that was just a two-line part that he invented and it turned into that role."

Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice the Aye-aye, Julien's assistant and second in command. He is in charge of announcing Julien to his court, though he finds this task tedious. He is generally less impressed by Julien than the other lemurs. Maurice shows the most intelligence in Julien's court, and is the only one to recognize Alex as a potentially greater threat than the foosa.

Andy Richter as Mort the Goodman's Mouse Lemur, a usually timid lemur who can become quite shrill and vocal when he opens up. The zoo animals find him adorable, but King Julien is highly annoyed by him, eventually shouting "Oh, shut up, you're so annoying!" in response to his inane chatter but Mort responds to this by giggling and looking flattered. In the commentary for the film, the director mentioned that Mort was actually 35.

The Fossas are predators native to Madagascar, who look like hyenas or half-cat half-dog creatures in appearance. Known as the top predators in the island of Madagascar, the fossa are the villains of the movie, constantly trying to kill and eat the lemurs. According to Julien, "they're always annoying us by trespassing, interrupting our parties, and ripping our limbs off". They are cowards, however, and always flee when confronted by a bigger predator, such as Alex. They also use foreign objects such as salt and pepper shakers.

Despite appearances, the pronunciation in the film ("foo-sah") is accurate, however the spelling (Foosa or Fousa) is not, as shown in one of the signs on the island.

Mason (Conrad Vernon) and Phil are the sophisticated chimpanzees at the Central Park Zoo, preferring to "read" the newspaper and enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning; for them, freedom means attending a Tom Wolfe lecture to "fling poo at him." Mason speaks with an RP accent and plans the daily affairs for Phil and himself, but is unable to read. He is named for James Mason, whose voice inspired the character's portrayal. Phil doesn't speak, making him initially seem less intelligent and more primitive than his comrade, but can read English and "speaks" American Sign Language which instills the idea that Phil is perhaps the more cerebral of the two. Both escape from the zoo in the beginning of the movie after Alex,Gloria ,and Melman leave for Grand Central Station. They are also sent to the wildlife reserve along with the main characters. Unlike the main characters, they don't wash up on the shores of Madagascar, however they do appear in the background of the final scene in their crate on the ship . In their first scene in the movie, they raid a wastebasket for leftover coffee, a bagel and a newspaper. Their crate on the ship is full of aluminum cans (in the DVD, it is indicated that they contain root beer, not beer, likely implemented in order to make the film more family-friendly). According to a May 26, 2005 interview with Director Tom McGrath in the Seattle Post Intelligencer [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/225746_moment26.html] , the chimp's "first scene was just deciphering the code on the shipping label. We got this girl who knew American Sign Language. We wanted (the gestures) to be really frenetic so she signed out, 'Tell the tiny pea-brained birds that the sign reads: Ship to ...' and it gave us enough hand gestures. Then we went back to 'I see that Tom Wolfe is speaking at Lincoln Center,' and she gestured, 'Can we throw our poo at his stupid white suit?'"

Cast

*Conrad Vernon as Mason
*Ben Stiller as Alex
*Chris Rock as Marty
*Andy Richter as Mort
*David Schwimmer as Melman
*Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria
*Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien
*Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice
*Tom McGrath as Skipper
*John DiMaggio as Rico
*Chris Miller as Kowalski
*Christopher Knights as Private

Animals featured

*Zebra (Marty)
*Hippopotamus (Gloria)
*Lion (Alex)
*Giraffe (Melman)
*Adelie Penguin (the penguins)
*Chimpanzee (Mason and Phil)
*Ring-Tailed Lemur (King Julien XIII)
*Mouse Lemur (Mort)
*Aye-Aye (Maurice)
*Ruffed Lemur (seen in lemur troop)
*Drouhard's Shrew Tenrec (seen at lemur meeting rolling into ball in fear, known in the director's commentary as Teemo)
*Chameleon (seen at lemur meeting or anywhere, known in canon sources as Masakuro)
*Butterfly
*Ocelot Gecko (seen at lemur meeting and on King Julien XIII's new crown)
*Giant Rat (seen attacked by snake and later eaten by hawk)
*Snake (seen attacking giant rat)
*Hawk (seen eating giant rat)
*Hummingbird (seen eaten by carnivorous plant)
*Duck (seen eaten by Nile crocodile)
*Nile Crocodile (seen eating duck)
*Dolphins (seen carrying Marty to Madagascar)
*Horse (seen in New York City, talking to Marty as an "officer")
*Humans (as regular citizens of New York City, zoo staff and the ship's crew)
*Fossa (the movie's antagonists)

Previews

Before the theartical release, the previews are the following:

Shrek 2

Shark Tale

Reception

The film gained mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a 55% approval rating.

Box Office

The film was a commercial success despite mixed reviews from some critics. The film grossed $47,224,594 with $11,431 average from 4,131 theaters making it #1. In the United States, the film gained $193,595,521 and gained a foreign gross of $339,085,150 adding to a worldwide gross of $532,680,671. Madagascar is currently the fourth highest-grossing DreamWorks animated feature behind Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Kung Fu Panda.

Awards

The movie has currently won three awards and several nominations.cite news | author = | title = Annie Awards 2005 | publisher = Annie Awards | date = 2008-05-22 | url = http://www.altfg.com/blog/awards/annie-awards-2005/| accessdate=2008-05-22]

Spinoffs

* A short film called "The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper" was released with the Madagascar DVD, and was theatrically released with "" in the United States.

Sequel

A sequel titled "" will be released on November 7, 2008, and pick up where the first one left off, the plotline will also be similar to "Shrek 2".Or|date=March 2008 Featuring Amy Stiller as Alex's older sister.

References

* "Madagascar Motion Picture Soundtrack Booklet"

External links

* [http://www.madagascar-themovie.com/ Official site]
*
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* [http://www.tohby.com "Tohby Riddle" - Author of the story: "The Great Escape from City Zoo"] Box Office Leaders USA
before =
date = June 5
year = 2005
after = Mr. & Mrs. Smith