Madagascar Complete Collection (2008)

"[Madagascar] A great family fun...wonderfully funny!  Joel Siegel, Good Morning America
"[Escape 2 Africa] You'll love it! Love it!  Pat Collins, WWOR-TV
"[Madagascar] ...a brisk and lively getaway with genuine personality.  Peter Debruge, Premiere
"[Madagascar] Savvy family entertainment.  Richard Corliss, Time
"[Escape 2 Africa] Lively and quite funny...with a number of engaging new characters.  Todd McCarthy, Variety

Editor's Note Couped-up critters from the Central Park Zoo stampede into a series of hilarious, wilderness misadventures in MADAGASCAR and MADAGASCAR 2. Also included here is a charming short film about the series' four flightless but fun-loving penguins. Please see individual titles for complete synopsis information.

	Ben Stiller
	Chris Rock
	Eric Darnell - Director
	Tom McGrath - Director

ReelViews 7 of 10
[Escape 2 Africa] One reason to lament the existence of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (which will hereafter be referred to merely as Madagascar 2) is too bemoan the considerable amount of talent that was tied up developing this uninspired sequel when it could have been employed in the service of something fresh and new. As a product - a flashy and shiny bauble lighting up the screen, featuring familiar faces and voices and offering a brief diversion from the real world - Madagascar 2 accomplishes what it sets out to do. The bar isn't that high, but the picture clears it. This movie reminds me of the forgettable Disney animated movies from the immediate pre-Little Mermaid era: creative sinkholes brought to the screen exclusively to provide parents and children with an opportunity to bond over something that's not frightfully bad. If Madagascar 2 is the best Dreamworks can provide to go toe-to-toe with Pixar's beautiful WALL*E, then it's game, set and match to the Disney subsidiary...The IMAX version of Madagascar 2 is being sold as the best way to see the film, and it's no wonder. Whatever faults this movie may have, it is a visual feast and a definite step-up from the disappointing look of its predecessor...It's hard for me to generate much enthusiasm for or against Madagascar 2. It is what it is and it will absorb entertainment-thirsty families the way a parched sponge sucks up water. It's an adequate way to spend 90 minutes with the family and, seen from that perspective, it achieves its aims. However, this is not the kind of animated movie that provides a rich, fulfilling experience for solo, adult viewer. As such, it is more properly labeled a "children's movie" than a "family film." And, like many such films that target less discriminating viewers, it's as forgettable as it is disposable. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 7 of 10
[Madagascar] From their earliest days when Mickey Mouse was still in black and white, cartoons have created a divide between animals who are animals and animals who are human -- or, if not human in the sense that Paris Hilton is human, then at least human in the sense that they speak, sing, have personalities and are voiced by actors like Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith...Now comes "Madagascar," an inessential but passably amusing animated comedy that has something very tricky going on. What happens if the human side of a cartoon animal is only, as they say, a veneer of civilization? Consider Alex the Lion. In the Central Park Zoo, he's a star, singing "New York, New York" and looking forward to school field trips because he likes to show off for his audiences...The movie is much too safe to follow its paradoxes to their logical conclusion, and that's probably just as well. The problem, though, is that once it gets them to the wild, it doesn't figure out what to do with them there, and the plot seems to stall. "Madagascar" is funny, especially at the beginning, and good-looking in a retro cartoon way, but in a world where the stakes have been raised by "Finding Nemo," "Shrek" and "The Incredibles," it's a throwback to a more conventional kind of animated entertainment. It'll be fun for the smaller kids, but there's not much crossover appeal for their parents. - Roger Ebert