Director: Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath
Writer: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath and Ethan Cohen
Starring: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith
Studio/Run Time: DreamWorks Animation, 89 mins.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa borrows so much of its plot from The Lion King that it’s fortunate it steers away from the drama of Disney’s film and heads straight for the funnies. After a flashback, where baby Alex the lion is taken away from his family in Africa and rescued by the Central Park Zoo, the film picks up where Madagascar left of, with the four friends—Alex (Ben Stiller), zebra Marty (Chris Rock), giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith)—trying to leave the island. They take off in the carcass of a crashed plane piloted by the quartet of penguins, who again steal the show every time they’re on the screen. Also tagging along are a pair of lemurs, King Julian (Sacha Baron Cohen) and attendant Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer)—in the first-class cabin, of course.

Signs of Life 2008: Best Music
Leona Naess - "All is Fair"
the everybodyfields - "Worth Keeping"
Life, Camera, Action: Movie Hopping While Rome burns
Live at Paste: Whitley






