film break: madagascar 2

i finished doing my errands earlier than expected last weekend, so i decided to treat myself to a movie.

after a casual perusal of the movies being shown, i noted with satisfaction that Quantum of Solace was on. a second later i saw Madagascar 2’s brightly colored floor display, and surprisingly stood there vacillating in front of the ticket booth as the couple behind me began to get impatient. finally, i blurted out “Madagascar.”

as full-length animated features go, Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa isn’t exactly top-notch but at the moment i wanted something light and frothy, and the resilient bond between alex the lion (ben stiller), marty the zebra (chris rock), melman the giraffee (david schwimmer), and gloria the hippo (jada pinkett-smith) seemed to hit the right spot.

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of course, when you come right down to it, much of the movie’s charm is provided by its zany cast of support players: spearheaded by king julian the lemur (sacha “borat” cohen) and his sidekick (cedrick the entertainer), and those penguins!

the plot runs along predictable lines but it’s easy to forgive that because there are other compensating factors (e.g., rich layers of colors and details). and then, there’s gloria’s laughter in the end (that tripped me up, because i was expecting something else).

i haven’t watched a james bond movie in years. i know daniel craig is a terrific actor and the gadgets and action sequences are prime (you expect nothing less from 007 movie), but after a while the plot just tends to repeat itself.