I went to see the DreamWorks movie Madagascar this weekend. I'd been looking forward to it for some time, if only because I like good computer animation. Unfortunately, the storyline in Madagascar is not that great; while fun for the family, it'll be more-so for the the kids than the adults. (The work put out by Pixar is much better, both technically and story-wise, and it's just as much fun for the parents as the children.)
\nIn fact, there's one point where the zebra, voiced by Chris Rock (read into that what you wish ;-), cries out \"Motherf-\" and then is cut off by other conversation mid-word. While it's funny because we know Chris Rock, I found it shocking and unexpected to hear that in a kid's movie.
\nI'm not going to review the movie here (the IMDB link above has a fine one), but I did want to point out that my favorite parts of the film had nothing at all to do with the main characters. For example, there are these four penguins staging a break for Antarctica, and they're a lot of fun; think mobsters crossed with Special Forces. The two British monkeys, one of whom speaks only in sign language, don't get anywhere near enough screen time. The real laugh-out-loud bits come from the half-insane King Julien of the lemurs (voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen) who is by far the funniest character in the picture . Julien doesn't show up until the second half of the movie, but when he's on screen you're laughing the whole time.
\nIn all, I'd say Madagascar is worth the matinee price, but probably more-worth it if you see it with some kids.
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