Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Rating

Director

Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath

Screenplay

Etan Cohen, Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath

Length

1h 29m

Starring

Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Sherri Shepherd, Will.I.Am, Elisa Gabrielli, Tom McGrath, Chris Miller, Christopher Knights, Conrad Vernon

MPAA Rating

PG

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Review

Exploring the idea of zoo animals outside their artificial habitats was the core concept of the original film. It remains an element of Escape 2 Africa where their unique big city skills and hindrances create unexpected situations and predictable outcomes.

Picking up where the last film left off, Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), Julien the ring-tailed lemur (Sacha Baron Cohen), Maurice (also a lemur; Cedric the Entertainer) and the quartet of penguins have attempted to fly back home to New York but a mechanical malfunction causes them to crash land in in the middle of a wildlife preserve in Kenya. There, Alex is reunited with his parents who had lost him many years before to a pair of poachers luring stray beasts from the preserve.

Alex’s childhood trauma is played out in a prelude to the film, which is light on laughs, but suitably so. The voice cast is all fine in roles they performed well in the first outing. They display the same knack of timing and passion that keeps these characters endearing. Alec Baldwin, Bernie Mac, and Sherri Shepherd join the cast. Bernie Mac and Shepherd play Alex’s parents, the former acting as king of the pride. Baldwin plays the conniving usurper-in-waiting whose physical prowess is no match for the King, but who schemes to one day take control of the tribe.

For children, the film presents several narratives that can help with their emotional development. Treating hypochondria as an endearing quirk rather than an avoidable trait, stepping outside the strictures of society to find new ways to win, and relying on your found family to lift you up and help you achieve great things together. For a lot of kid-friendly animated films, those goals are superficial but with the Madagascar series they are entrusted to the viewer and given the full breadth of heart.

The penguins and King Julien remain the most entertaining elements of the film, injecting many scenes with raucous bits of humor, never overstaying their welcome. It allows the audience to find humor outside the main story, which infuses it with more compassion and emotional depth. The story is a bit old fashioned with a faint pro-environment message carefully crafted into its humorous length. It doesn’t have the jaw-dropping splendor or poignancy of its contemporary WALL-E, but it is fun and engaging, which should please finicky parents and their well-behaved children.

Review Written

June 30, 2026