Review By: Alexis Tuminello
AlexisTuminello@TheCinemaSource.com

Penguins have to be the most boring creatures on earth. Pretty to look at in their tuxes but they’re not all good looking when you get up close. Madagascar takes their hierarchical group behavior and turns it into a hysterical military foursome with perfect comedic timing. I think I might just change my opinion on penguins.

Madagascar in an animated adventure brought to you by the creators of Shark Tale but they hit gold with Madagascar. Marty the Zebra(Chris Rock) is desperate to escape the hum-drum monotony of living a pampered life in New York City and wants to go to the dangerous, unpredictable, every animal for himself wild. Well, he gets his wish and Central Park Zoo send him to the wild, but the catch his three best friends accompany him on the trip and they DON’T want to go. Especially his best friend and star attraction Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller). What the zoo didn’t see is that the penguins seize this opportunity to hijack a tanker and sail to Antarctica. When the main attractions (Alex, Marty, etc...) arrive on the shores of Madagascar the insane lemming king Julian(Shacha Baron Cohen)welcomes them dance. He becomes convinced these “freaks” as he dubs them, are there to save the lemming population from being picked off by carnivores. In real life lemmings are not this cute.

That is such a banal synopsis of Madagascar but the story line isn’t that strong but when the jokes are delivered you just don’t care. This movie is laugh out loud funny. From beginning to end. I wasn’t surprised, the trailer was funny and I love the fact that they didn’t give away all the good jokes in the commercials. Aside from the penguins, Melman the hypochondriac Giraffe (David Schwimmer is the best character. He is so funny, he’s scared of everything but manages to get into all sorts of germy trouble. The lemming king, Julian (Shacha Baron Cohen), is all about shaking his boot-ay and just being crazy. These two provide the best comedic lines (outside of the penguins) thought the movie, even during the slow moving scenes.

Now let’s talk about the penguins - they are the epitome of great comedic timing, writers Mark Burton and Billy Frolick know exactly when the movie needs to evoke a laugh. I think the head penguin (I don’t know army ranks and I think they called him a sergeant but he might call his right hand man that.) is voiced by assistant editor Christopher Knights but I am not sure. They are keeping it a secret and that annoys me to know end. The voice was perfect! I WANT TO KNOW! Despite that the penguins are pop in and out to provide “comic relief” but I think the tuxedo ranks are the comic creators! It’s all about the penguins.

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