The Hollywood CGI machine spits out yet another so-so animated product that will undoubtedly rake in large quantities of cash while anesthetizing at least three quarters of its audience. This time out, it’s the boring sequel routine as the Central Park zoo animals take a trip from Madagascar to Africa in this aptly titled sequel. What we have here is a weak and mundane follow up to the 2005 original that wasn’t all that great to begin with. All of the voices return (including Ben Stiller and Chris Rock), as do the spunky penguins. Unfortunately, some of the new characters are completely uninteresting and bland. And the returning characters feel like the end result of screenwriter desperation. There’s a cute prelude where we see Stiller’s character as a little boy playing with his dad (the late Bernie Mac) in Africa. They should’ve made the whole movie about that.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
