Four animal buddies escape from a zoo and make a dash for the proverbial wild, only to discover that freedom has its own set of complications.
Although less frenetic and cluttered than that other recent digital animation, Shark Tale, DreamWorks' Madagascar is fraught with its own problems, including an over-reliance on predictable, kid-friendly slapstick, and a story that takes forever to get going and then slides into some odd and unsatisfying areas. There are possibilities for Swiftian satire when the large, city-bred mammals wash ashore on the titular island and find themselves caught up in a war between two pint-sized species, but the movie drops the ball and simply focuses on the wacky antics of the urban animals as they attempt to adjust to a lack of civilization.
The last act is inexplicably strange, as the once-docile lion gets in touch with his carnivore instincts and begins thinking about his former friends as dinner – an eat-or-be-eaten syndrome that may be a tad difficult to explain to wee viewers raised on Disney's Circle of Life. The animation looks great, though (in a more exaggerated, stylized way than we're used to), several of the characters are memorable (the lemur king and a quartet of penguins are particular crowd-pleasers), and, although there isn't all that much adult-oriented pop-culture reference and humor here, when it comes it's right on target. The gag about over-educated monkeys flinging pooh at Tom Wolfe is a movie moment for the ages. Featuring the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Madagascar (PG) opens May 27 at local theaters. 
-Lance Goldenberg
This article appears in May 25-31, 2005.