As Much Fun as a Barrel of Lemurs

Ya'll probably saw MADAGASCAR already but being as I'm well over the target marketing age group for this Dreamworks ANimation delight, I just saw it last night. Truth be told Erin and I had tried on several occassions to find a small child to accompany us to the film, but, well, instead saw it on a weeknight with 10 other people 10 weeks after it opened. I have a soft spot in my heart for cartoons, as I used to take my little sister to get away from the family on several holiday occasions, I must admit, but I think anyone would love this movie.

MADAGASCAR follows a group of NY City Park animals who, much to their own surprise, get sent back to the wild. The lead animals, voiced by Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and David Schwimmer are all fun in their own personality quirk ways, but the movie is completely stolen by two sets on supporting characters: the Penguins, who hijack to the ship to get to Antartica, only to find its too cold, and the Lemurs who rule the island the animals end up on. The Lemur King, voiced by "Ali G" star Sacha Cohen steals every scene he is in, despite the valiant efforts of Cedric the Entertainer (as I would call it, the Lemur Prime Minister). My God they were funny.

I don't want to ruin any of the surprises or the brilliant sci-fi parody/reference moments that are obviously in there for the adults, so I'll just say, see this movie. If it closes this week, as I fully expect, rent it, buy it on DVD whatever. This is the first cartoon with out the Pixar label attached that really made the CGI lovable and cute (Shrek is not cute, it's funny but not cute). I recommend MADAGASCAR for kids, adults who think like kids, laughs and bringing out the animal instinct in all of us to Go Wild! Rick Rating: A -