Help in the Entertainment Era: MADAGASCAR 2

"What is this place?"
"San Diego. This time, I'm 40% sure."

Our zoo friends Alex, Marty, Gloria, Melman, and the penguins board King Julian's wreck plane to head back to New York! But when they crash in Africa, Alex meets his parents - the ones he had before he was taken by hunters and drifted to New York. His father Zuba is the alpha lion, and Alex is ready to prove himself to his dad through the Rite of Passage. Except there are two problems. First, a sneaky lion is ready to use Alex to become the alpha lion himself, and secondly Alex thinks the Rite of Passage is a dance-off.

You saw the first one, you loved it, you saw the previews for this one and they looked hilarious. Our experience exactly. But as good as the trailer looked, this movie does not burst through the dark cloud of reachy sequels. To my knowledge, no 2 movie ever has except Toy Story, and don't expect it here. While ESCAPE TO AFRICA is by no means lacking in funny lines (mostly provided by our beloved Julian and the penguins), the side plots and overtones are just... second movie-esque. Alot about women and love. To Melman's dismay, Gloria gets a date with a dashing hippo who says some things that could have been left out, and made me squirm a little. Nothing unthinkable, just not good for the kids. Plenty of fat jokes too that you won't want to hear your five-year-old cracking. Julian also gives some advice about how to deal with the ladies. He also makes a sacrifice to his "good friends the water gods", which is decribed as a "50-50" way of getting water. But there is nothing serious there, and it is mostly just a way to get Melman's heart to come out his mouth. In the beginning, the hunters take baby Alex away and shoot at his father, which could be scary.

Now for the positive side. Alex and his parents are happily reunited and Zuba stands up for his son, even though he's a little... weird. Melman makes a couple of sweet speeches without any sensual content, which I liked. He also is ready to sacrifice himself to maybe get water for his true love. And there's a lot of funny! The penguins are great and you can't go too wrong with Julian!

I enjoyed this movie, despite it's lacking in certain areas. But you may want to watch it before your kids do.