Greetings, folks, and welcome to another installment of a new series of retrospectives here on Rhode Island Movie Corner that will be covering the numerous films produced by DreamWorks Animation. Given that the studio has produced more than forty films up to this point, I decided to do the same thing that I did with my retrospective series on Walt Disney Animation and split what would’ve been a ridiculously massive single post into separate parts. But whereas the Disney retrospectives were divvied up by decades, I decided to start off the DreamWorks series by focusing on the company’s biggest animated franchises; in other words, the ones that, at the very least, have yielded a trilogy of films. This, of course, began with a look at one of the indisputable juggernauts of animation, Shrek, and today, we move on to the second major DreamWorks franchise that reached the trilogy mark, Madagascar. Primarily developed by the directorial duo of Tom McGrath (who has since gone on to direct other DreamWorks films like Megamind and the Boss Baby films) and Eric Darnell (who co-directed DreamWorks’ first computer animated film Antz), the Madagascar series follows a group of animals from the Central Park Zoo who find themselves forced to survive on their own in the wild. While the series was never much of a runaway hit with critics, it has been a relatively consistent performer at the box-office as its three mainline installments and one spin-off collectively grossed over $2.2 billion worldwide, which does make it DreamWorks’ second highest-grossing franchise to date (bested only, of course, by Shrek) and the industry’s seventh highest-grossing animated film franchise overall. So, let’s not waste any more time and get ready to “move it, move it” as Rhode Island Movie Corner proudly presents its retrospective on the Madagascar series.
(Also, for those who
may have missed the Shrek retrospective, the one major ground rule that
I set up for these DreamWorks retrospectives is that I’ll only be covering their
feature film output and none of the TV shows that any of their IPs have
spawned which, in this instance, includes the Penguins of Madagascar series
on Nickelodeon that I did watch a couple episodes of when I was younger, the
Netflix series All Hail King Julien, and the prequel series Madagascar:
A Little Wild that recently released its final season on both Hulu and
Peacock.)
MADAGASCAR (2005)
As I alluded to in the intro, Madagascar is often
seen as a franchise that got better as time went on, and in some cases, it’s
easy to see why when looking back at the original Madagascar from 2005. Despite
an impressive $556.6 million run at the box office (which made it the sixth
highest-grossing film of the year), reviews for it were average at best. Going
back to something that I mentioned in the Shrek retrospective, this was
right around the time when DreamWorks Animation was garnering quite a bit of a reputation
amongst its biggest critics for allegedly making nothing but pop-culture-dependent
kiddie flicks that, as financially successful as they were, didn’t hold a
candle to the likes of Disney and Pixar. And by most accounts, this was another
instance of DreamWorks trying to one-up Disney as they managed to get Madagascar
out before Disney’s ‘Central Park Zoo animals travel to the jungle’ film, The
Wild, thus resulting in the rare instance where Disney was accused of
ripping off DreamWorks even though The Wild had been in the works for
much longer. Conversely, this film’s sequels/spin-offs were released during a
time when DreamWorks films finally started to rely less on the studio’s established
formula. Still, as much as I can see why its sequels are largely seen as
superior films, the first Madagascar, just like the first Shrek,
has always been a strong personal favorite of mine. For starters, I’d argue
that this film is right up there with Shrek as one of the most quotable
films of all time, whether it’s Marty yelling ‘Oh, Sugar Honey Iced Tea!” when
he runs away from an angry Alex (think about it for a second and you’ll see
what I mean 😉) or the Penguins
finally reaching their desired location of Antarctica and immediately declaring
“Well, this sucks!”.
Overall, the first Madagascar does succeed in being a
light-hearted comedy adventure that, admittedly, is often just as light when it
comes to its writing. Sure, part of this can be attributed to the fact that the
filmmakers had to cut a pregnancy storyline involving Gloria (as well as a
blossoming relationship with Melman) to avoid a PG-13 rating, but despite centering
on a quartet of main protagonists, the film largely focuses on Alex and Marty.
Still, for what it’s worth, everything with Alex and Marty, from Marty’s desire
to experience life beyond the Central Park Zoo to Alex’s increasingly deranged
state due to a lack of food nearly resulting in him eating Marty, is nicely
handled from an emotional standpoint, thus emphasizing the strength of their
friendship. And just like Shrek, this film thrives on its great ensemble
cast of characters headlined by the lovable lead quartet of Alex the lion (Ben
Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), not to mention a scene-stealing turn
from Sacha Baron Cohen as the hilariously self-obsessed Julien, king of the
Madagascar lemurs. In short, while it may be far from being the best animated
film of its time, the original Madagascar has just enough of a decent
emotional hook to its proceedings that it ends up being more than just your
standard early 2000s animated film. As such, it’s easy to see why this ended
up becoming DreamWorks’ next big film franchise after Shrek which,
admittedly, isn’t something that a lot of the studio’s other films at the time
were able to do.
Rating: 4.5/5
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE
2 AFRICA (2008)
With the original Madagascar becoming DreamWorks’
biggest hit at the box-office since the first two Shrek films, it’s not
that surprising to see that a sequel was put into development not long after its
release; thus, in 2008, the adventures of Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman
continued with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. In this film, the Central
Park Zoo gang seemingly find themselves on the way back to New York by way of the
old derelict airplane from on top of the lemurs’ big tree. However, when said
plane inevitably crash lands, the gang find themselves directly on the African
mainland where they each find themselves dealing with their own bits of
personal drama. Alex ends up reuniting with his long-lost parents but struggles
to reacclimate into his old lion pride, especially due to the antics of his
father Zuba’s (Bernie Mac) conniving rival, Makunga (Alec Baldwin). Meanwhile,
Marty comes across a bunch of other zebras but soon finds himself undergoing an
identity crisis when he realizes that his new zebra friends all look, talk, and
act just like him (which means, yes, every zebra in this film is voiced by
Chris Rock). Finally, Melman begins to try and express the romantic feelings
that he has for Gloria, a process that’s complicated by a potential
relationship between her and local womanizer Moto Moto (will.i.am). So, right
off the bat, one of the first things that Madagascar 2 does better than
its predecessor is that it does a better job of balancing out the roles of its
main protagonists. Sure, Alex is still largely the central focus at the end of
the day, but since this film finally utilizes the romance subplot between
Gloria and Melman that had to get cut out of the first film to maintain its
family-friendly rating, Madagascar 2 ends up being more of a true
ensemble piece.
In general, Escape 2 Africa feels far more committed
to the process of fleshing out its main characters rather than just focusing on
its humor. Don’t get me wrong, this is still primarily a comedy as is usually
the case with DreamWorks films, but whereas a film like Shrek the Third
lost sight of its story and characters as a result of its overt focus on trying
to match Shrek 2’s sharp and fast-paced wit, Escape 2 Africa manages
to find a much better balance when it comes to managing its humor and its
emotional beats. And when it comes to the former of those two, this film does an
excellent job of following the example set by Shrek 2 by having its
comedic moments come at you faster and harder, resulting in what is quite
arguably a much more upbeat and energetic film when compared to its immediate predecessor.
Sure, most of the new characters introduced here are, admittedly, one-off
characters who don’t return for the sequel, but there are still some solid
performances from the likes of Bernie Mac (in what was ultimately one of his
final roles following his passing in 2008) and Sherri Shepherd as Alex’s
parents Zuba and Florrie and Alec Baldwin as Makunga, a classic example of a
‘love to hate him’ antagonist. Thus, with all that and some significantly
improved animation, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is very much the same
kind of superior sequel that Shrek 2 was for the Shrek franchise.
As much as I do still love the first Madagascar film, especially because
it’s the one film from this franchise that I have the most history with (by
comparison, I never owned this film on DVD but did rewatch it several times
over the years), it’s hard to deny that the second film improves upon several
of its predecessor’s biggest shortcomings. And as we’ll soon see, this didn’t
end up being a case like the Shrek franchise where its overall success
with critics peaked with its second film.
Rating: 5/5!
MADAGASCAR 3:
EUROPE’S MOST WANTED (2012)
Co-directors Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell were joined by a
third director, longtime DreamWorks storyboard artist/director (as well as the
voice of fan-favorite Shrek sidekick Gingy) Conrad Vernon, for the third
installment of the Madagascar franchise, Europe’s Most Wanted. As
the title suggests, the film sees the Central Park Zoo gang forced to go on the
run across Europe after running amok in Monte Carlo as they tag along with a
fledgling circus to try and return home to New York all while being pursued by
Captain Chantel DuBois, an utterly imposing and seemingly unstoppable Animal
Control agent who seeks to capture her #1 target, a lion, and add its head to
her wall. And to conclude the point that I’ve been making throughout this
retrospective, Madagascar 3 proved to be the franchise’s biggest
critical and commercial hit upon its release. While Madagascar: Escape 2
Africa’s $603.9 million run was a significant improvement over the
original’s box-office haul, Madagascar 3 managed to top that with a
$746.9 million haul, which is currently the fourth-highest total that any
DreamWorks film has achieved (bested only by the three Shrek sequels)… and
one that, admittedly, no other DreamWorks film since has managed to top. It
also pulled off a feat that most threequels never come close to achieving by
garnering the best reviews in franchise history to the point where it most
likely managed to win over those who weren’t too big on the first two films.
After Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa did a fine job of adopting
a more rapid-fire style of humor, Madagascar 3 goes even further with
that approach, resulting in a non-stop barrage of visual comedy that’s
bolstered by some of the sharpest animation that this series has seen yet. Much
of this is thanks to the film’s scene-stealing villain DuBois, whose borderline
psychotic antics (as well as Frances McDormand’s truly committed performance in
the role) provide many of the film’s best comedic bits. As usual, though, the
other new additions to the cast (namely, the Central Park Zoo gang’s new
friends at the circus) are solid as well, including Bryan Cranston’s Vitaly,
the circus’ gruff star performer tiger who was traumatized by a disastrous past
performance, Jessica Chastain’s Gia, a trapeze-savvy Jaguar who forms a
romantic connection with Alex, and Martin Short’s Stefano, a happy-go-lucky sea
lion. In short, while I may not have the same kind of history with this film
that I have with the first two Madagascar films (to put this into perspective,
the rewatch that I did for this retrospective was only the second time that I’d
ever watched it), Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is, indeed, a high
mark for the franchise. It fully embraces the madcap tone and atmosphere that
the franchise had slowly but surely adopted over the years, resulting in a
highly entertaining animated comedy that works quite well even if it may not be
as focused on its character development as it is with its humor.
Rating: 5/5!
Also, no regrets!
PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR
(2014)
From the moment the first Madagascar hit theaters, it
was clear that its quartet of highly trained penguins (Skipper, Private,
Kowalski, and Rico) were shaping up to be the franchise’s biggest standouts.
Naturally, DreamWorks capitalized on this as early as that same year with a
Penguins-centric short, The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper,
which ran in theaters with DreamWorks’ 2005 Aardman collaboration Wallace
& Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and was a bonus feature on the first
Madagascar’s home video release (also, it was notably directed by Beauty
and the Beast co-director Gary Trousdale). Three years later, following the
release of Escape 2 Africa, the penguins headlined the franchise’s first
TV spin-off, The Penguins of Madagascar, which was developed by the same
team behind the hit Disney Channel series Kim Possible and ran for three
seasons from 2008 to 2015 on Nickelodeon and its premium cable sister network,
Nicktoons. Finally, in 2014, the penguins were given their own feature film, Penguins
of Madagascar (which, to be clear, had no direct relation to the show),
which, like the Shrek franchise’s spin-off Puss in Boots,
originally started out as a direct-to-video release before it was promoted to
the big screen. Unlike Puss in Boots, however, the Penguins of
Madagascar film ended up being a financial dud. While a $373.5 million run
at the box office doesn’t seem that bad… the film itself sported
a hefty $132 million budget. This combined with the similar underperformance of
another 2014 DreamWorks release, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, resulted in
the studio having to take a $57.1 million write-down. And by most accounts, this
was a prominent factor in the major bout of restructuring that DreamWorks
underwent in 2015 that resulted in five hundred job terminations and the
closure of their longtime animation studio, PDI.
And yet, even with all that in mind, seeing how this film
was relatively on par with Madagascar 3 in terms of its critical
reception, it’s safe to say that if its poor financial performance and the
negative impact that it had on the studio resulted in it garnering some sort of
bad reputation, the film itself certainly doesn’t give off the impression that
it was an all-around disastrous release. In short, the Penguins of
Madagascar film is a good old-fashioned popcorn flick with a lot of bright
and colorful animation and a likable bunch of characters to headline it. Heck,
the film even manages to yield some surprisingly effective emotional moments by
way of its primary character arc in which the largely overlooked Private
finally manages to prove himself as a valued member of the team. But, of
course, just like the mainline Madagascar films, Penguins of
Madagascar is a comedy first and foremost, and as usual, there are plenty
of great quotable lines and visual gags throughout. Much of this is thanks to some
of the fun new characters introduced in this film, such as the main antagonist
Dave the Octopus (John Malkovich), who has a running gag of giving out commands
that turn into bits of celebrity name wordplay (for example, “Nicolas, Cage
them!” and “Kevin, Bake On!”), and Agent Classified (Benedict Cumberbatch), the
leader of an animal espionage group known as the North Wind who forms a rivalry
with Skipper over the effectiveness of their leadership tactics. Thus, while it’s
by no means the best installment of the Madagascar franchise, Penguins
of Madagascar is a harmless crowd-pleaser that, above all, provides the
same amounts of genuine laughs and heart as the other Madagascar films.
Rating: 4/5
And that concludes
the second installment of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ongoing series of DreamWorks
retrospectives. As always, thanks for following along and be sure to be on the lookout
for the next installment of this new series which, keeping in line with my plan
of starting things out with DreamWorks’ biggest franchises, will tackle the Kung
Fu Panda trilogy. As usual, there’s no definite timetable for its
publication, but I will note that, if anything, I’m not just going to wait
until the release of the franchise’s recently announced fourth film in 2024.
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