… neurotic weed (voiced by an American Jew), and the fat chunky one (voiced by a black person) … racist

Madagascar is a fish-out-of-water tale of a group of zoo animal friends — hippo, giraffe, zebra and, err, lion (they’re from a zoo, they don’t know any better!) — who find themselves stranded on a distant island (no prizes for guessing which one). Can they survive in the wild, and will the jungle threaten to break their relationship as their true animal natures begin to assert themselves? Well, it’s a kids’ film, so no surprises.

Madagascar is a charming film with some lovable albeit unoriginal characters: cool leader (voiced by a white, all-American guy), wise-cracking donkey sorry zebra sidekick voiced by a leading black American stand-up, neurotic weed (voiced by an American Jew), and the fat chunky one (voiced by a black person). Oh, and there’s Sacha Baron Cohen doing a possibly racist generic foreigner voice, again.

But we can’t judge this 2005 flick by today’s somewhat different social mores. The fact that Ross Geller, Sorry David Schwimmer, is part of the leading cast should date this film considerably (no prizes for guessing which of our foursome he is — and no offence to Schwimmer, he is a genuinely talented performer, but let’s be honest — he hasn’t exactly been flush for film roles in the last decade or so, has he?). So how is it as a film?

It’s good. It’s still good. The characters have a balanced relationship between them. There are some great set pieces. There’s the whole emotional journey thing. There’s a friendship hanging in the balance. There’s the odd cultural reference; not too many to charge the writers with laziness, as most of the gags are gags are not “I-know-what-he-is-referencing-!-lol” so-called gags which blight much of the world of comedy these days.

Is it inferior to Ice Age and Shrek? Well, yes. It always was. But it’s a good way to waste ninety minutes.

© 2022 Bryan A. J. Parry

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