Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director:
Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
Cast :
Ben Stiller……….Alex the Lion (voice)
Chris Rock……….Marty the Zebra (voice)
David Schwimmer……….Melman the Giraffe (voice)
Jada Pinkett-Smith……….Gloria the Hippo (voice)
Making an animated feature seems to have found its’ own sort of formula in Hollywood nowadays. Design a plot that little kids can understand and adults will approve of, throw in some big name actors to lend their voice, then mix in some good-natured jokes meshed with some amusing gags and you have a formula to do some serious damage at the box office. Animated hits are becoming the norm, as few animated movies fail to take a sizable chunk out of box office receipts in any given year.
Plenty of big name stars have lent their voices to animated features: Sylvester Stallone (Antz), Eddie Murphy (Shrek and Shrek 2), Halle Berry (Robots), Will Smith (Shark Tale) and Robert De Niro (Shark Tale) are amongst the many that have lent their voices to computer-generated characters and scenes. Animation lends itself to a whole new way to tell a story; instead of relying upon an actor to carry a story with his emotions, he now has to use his voice and an animator takes care of the physical aspect.
It’s a whole new level of entertainment and movie-making, with adult concepts meshed with the most visually accessible style for the child inside, and beside, nearly every parent in a movie theatre. It’s gotten to the point where there is at least one major animated feature released per movie season, as well as an Academy Award for the category as well.
Madagascar is the latest release in a long line of animated features. It comes complete with another in the long line of talented casts as well, with Ben Stiller, Chris Rock (already a veteran of animation with 2001’s Osmosis Jones under his belt), Jada Pinkett-Smith and David Schwimmer lending their comedic talents to this fish out of water tale.
The foursome star as Alex (Stiller), Marty (Rock), Melman (Schwimmer) and Gloria (Pinkett-Smith), four zoo animals who have never known the roughness of the wild and are closer to domesticated cats and dogs than wild beasts. Having always known the comforts of the New York City Zoo, they venture out into the city one night on Marty’s 10th birthday (ostensibly for him to visit the wilds of Connecticut) and end up being shipped back to the wild from whence they came from. Obviously they are completely out of their element as zoo life can have a taming effect on previously wild animals and from there it’s a mad cap rush into mediocrity.
The film looks as good as the The Incredibles and Finding Nemo; in many ways trying to animate the animals is just as difficult as trying to animate humans. Trying to capture the sort of facial expressions that an actor like Stiller or Rock brings to the table must be a difficult task; the Dreamworks team makes it look easy. Alex the Lion and Marty the Zebra both convey the same sort of expression that their real-life counterparts possess. It’s nothing new or innovative in the animation but it is impressive nonetheless.
But that’s a double-edged sword as the movie’s main weakness is readily exposed: the lack of comic ability by Schwimmer and Pinkett-Smith. Schwimmer has been called by some as the Horshack of the Friends cast, and he does little to throw off that image. Melman is an unfunnier version of Ross, who wasn’t very funny to begin with. His various neurotic antics are generally not funny. Pinkett-Smith is competent in her role, but at the same the movie tends to drag the more she is featured.
Stiller and Rock carry this movie admirably; the two have a comic timing that radiates across the screen. The movie’s high points tend to reflect the moments these two are in charge on screen; the movie’s flow and comedy radiate from these two. It’s a testament that to their abilities that the other two members of the main cast (Pinkett-Smith and Schwimmer) seems funny, albeit at times, in part due to Rock and Stiller.
Outside of the main action, the main subplot of the movie involving the penguins (featured prominently in the advertising) is hit or miss. It mainly hits in small doses, but as a whole the interludes to their various antics are moderately funny as a whole.
That’s a recurring theme; certain circumstances are a major hit comedy-wise (anything with Stiller and Rock in prominence), but others (situations not featuring Stiller or Rock in combination) fall flat more often than not.
