Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath’s 2008 sequel scatters the quartet the first film united. Alex meets his father Zuba, Marty loses himself among hundreds of identical zebras, Melman decides he is dying, Gloria learns Moto Moto wants her only for her size. Penguins repair the plane while an elderly tourist, Nana, takes over the human camp. Split that many ways, 89 minutes leaves each thread short, and the group reunites at the dam. The central joke turns the first film inside out: the dancing Alex learned at the zoo is useless in a fighting trial he mistakes for a talent contest, and Makunga matches him against the strongest lion. Marty runs the same way: finding your own kind here strips an identity instead of supplying one. Bernie Mac voiced Zuba and had finished his recordings. He died on 9 August 2008; the film opened on 7 November, dedicated to him, Jeffrey Katzenberg noting animators still at work. Its first teaser carried the title The Crate Escape. will.i.am, who voices Moto Moto, wrote five songs, and his I Like to Move It plays over the close. A good fit if you enjoy a sequel that turns its hero’s best trick into a deficiency. Less so if you want the four travelling together, since they spend nearly the whole film apart.