Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Alex, Marty, and other zoo animals find a way to escape from Madagascar when the penguins reassemble a wrecked airplane. The precariously repaired craft stays airborne just long enough to make it to the African continent. There the New Yorkers encounter members of their own species for the first time. Africa proves to be a wild place, but Alex and company wonder if it is better than their Central Park home.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a serviceable sequel that expands the world to Africa but largely rehashes the fish-out-of-water dynamics of the original. The plot is formulaic — identity crisis for Alex, Melman's hypochondria played for laughs, Gloria and Moto Moto's superficial romance — without much narrative surprise. Voice performances are energetic and charming from the core cast (Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith), keeping things watchable. Cinematography is competent DreamWorks animation for its era, colorful and kinetic but not visually distinctive. Novelty is low as it's a by-the-numbers sequel recycling the first film's humor and character beats without adding much new. The ending wraps up neatly but without resonance, typical of mid-tier animated sequels.