Madagascar 2 - Escape 2 Africa

I'm not much of a reviewer - I like most everything I see.

This was a fun movie. It starts off with a flashback to Alex the Lion's childhood, when he is lured off the reserve and captured by poachers. His father catches up to them, and knocks the crate off the truck. Little Alex is rescued, and shipped to the Central Park Zoo, where he becomes the "King of New York".

Picking up where the last movie left off, our friends Alex (voiced by Ben Stiller), Melman (David Schwimmer), Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) and of course Marty (Chris Rock) are preparing to fly home to New York, in an airplane piloted by those inventive, resourceful penguins. Of course, the plane doesn't go as far as it's supposed to, and crash lands in Africa.

There are lots of little gags based on the last movie, and also on other movies as well. It's a cute, funny story, not quite as good as the first movie, but I think that's just because they tend to belabor the traits that make each of these animals funny in the first place, whereas in the first one, they sort of came naturally.

All in all, I and my sons enjoyed it.

Next movie: either Bolt or The Tale Of Despereaux.