Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Just saw this at a discount movie theater ($2.50 a seat) and that's about what it's worth. Don't watch it expecting some major innovative work of art - it isn't, nor was it meant to be. It's purely fun fluff.

Without a doubt, the penguins steal the show. Their banter and antics are just downright hysterical. Granny on the other hand, needs to be retired. A cameo of her might have been funny, but she is overused to the point of irritation.

The ill-fated aircraft ride is a raucous ride, but after that the story splits into four or five (at least) concurrent sub-plots, so enough time isn't really given to each, and the pacing tends to jerk along in spurts. Basically it seems as if the filmmakers just strung together scenes of the funniest supporting characters from the original then tried to wrap it around a Lion King send-up.

All that said, I actually liked this one better than the original. Not every movie is intended to be a piece of ground-breaking cinematic artistry and this certainly isn't. But it IS just downright fun to watch. Now if Dreamworks would just give the penguins their OWN full-length picture...