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Madagascar
EMAILPRINTDreamWorks Distribution LLC
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 36 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 74 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Family/Kids | Fantasy
Written by:
Mark Burton
Billy Frolick
Directed by:
Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath
Release Date:
Theatrical: May 27, 2005
DVD: November 15, 2005
Running Time: 80 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for mild language, crude humor and some thematic elements
Starring Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Christopher Knights, and Andy Richter
When a group of animals from New York's Central Park Zoo wash ashore on the exotic island of Madagascar, they must figure out how to survive in the wild and discover the true meaning of the phrase "It's a jungle out there." (DreamWorks)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Antz
GAMES: Madagascar (Xbox)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Dishes up some very corny jokes, but the images have a brighter-than-life vivacity.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The animals' personalities have been carefully calibrated: They have sufficient edge to amuse us as characters, yet they're cuddly enough to market as plush toys or action figures.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
It could be more involving, but it's funny enough that you won't care.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Despite Madagascar's formulaic tendencies, it's a formula that works, so parents are urged to sit back, relax and enjoy -- the kids surely will.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
It's bright and spry, giggly and bouncy, but also cuddly with occasional touches of cruelty--a movie in which best friends, when let loose in the wild, suddenly realize one's a little higher on the food chain.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Forget life lessons: I much prefer a lemur king doing the robot.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
The thin story, which sometimes feels like a series of one-liners strung together, is wisely kept short. But the gags are funny and the characters endearing.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Madagascar isn't deep and would have no business being deep. But that it keeps one foot in reality is enough to keep us guessing.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Madagascar doesn't do much, except make you laugh. All hail such a minimalist approach.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
This slight and amusing 'toon is mostly a trip designed for the kiddie crowd to take in.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Madagascar is a classical gas. It's a good-humored, pleasant confection that has all kinds of relaxed fun bringing computer-animated savvy to the old-fashioned world of Looney Tunes cartoons.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
The tenor can be shrill, but there's no time to get bored. And on top of that, most of the gags actually work.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Antic, cute, scattershot, it's a remarkable-looking but terribly uncertain bit of CGI fluff, with its richest humor off to the sides of the action and a whole lot of average in the middle.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Madagascar is funny, especially at the beginning, and good-looking in a retro cartoon way, but in a world where the stakes have been raised by "Finding Nemo," "Shrek" and "The Incredibles," it's a throwback to a more conventional kind of animated entertainment. It'll be fun for the smaller kids, but there's not much crossover appeal for their parents.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Often feels like a cartoon that wishes it were live action.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Eventually, it had to happen: a computer-animated dud.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
It's frustrating to see this wonderful-looking, laugh-out-loud funny survival tale fall short of its potential.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Madagascar's relaxed density is a relief given the DreamWorks tendency to overbear, overblast, and overcaricaturize.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Credit Madagascar with negotiating a hopeful truce in the ongoing battle between the computer and the animation. Judged merely by appearances, its look is a lovely compromise. Too bad everything else has been compromised right out of existence.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
More than a few will agree with the penguins, who netted the film a PG rating with the utterance, "Well, this sucks."
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Less like "Shrek," meaning hilarious and heartfelt, and more like "Shark Tale," meaning manic and exhausting, Madagascar will keep kids distracted without transporting them to wonderland.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The plot really is basic, so the bafflement of the movie lies in its combination of visual riches and dramatic -- as well as thematic -- impoverishment.
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
The whole thing feels throwaway, but some of the gags are funny.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Looks stunning, but it's an ill-conceived mess that plays like two movies awkwardly spliced together. In one movie, parents are asked to stand by while the kids are entertained with cute animal tricks and slapstick pratfalls. In the other, the kids will be hushed while the parents are treated to inside jokes.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt
The film never gets going. It's too slow and plodding for kids--even too obvious.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Often quite beautiful. But Madagascar, which was directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, is mismanaged pretty much from start to finish.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Madagascar arouses no sense of wonder, except insofar as you wonder, as you watch it, how so much talent, technical skill and money could add up to so little.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
The underwhelming, only fitfully amusing movie left me hungry for more.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The animation is deft but the screenplay is stilted, the voice-performances are unimaginative, and the whole project is surprisingly clumsy in its efforts to please young and old alike. A major disappointment.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 74 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jack S. gave it a2:
Yes, the animation was fair. The voices were not that realistic. It had absolutely NO PLOT. There was barely any good jokes. Actually there wasn't any good jokes. The only cool thing about this movie is the song "Move It" and that the animation was fair. But, those are not what makes a good movie. Definately the animation part, I said FAIR, they really could of gotten better and more realistic animation. But, even that only plays a small part of a good animation. The real part is this is ANIMATION!!! Not reallity. Animated movies are suppposed to creat things that truly entertain the minds of people. This was way to ordinary. Hasn't any of you already thought of a bunch of zoo animals washing up on a shore of an island? This is orgiinal. The jokes were the lamest jokes ever, they're worse then my friends jokes! When he tries to crack one everyone who hears it wil go totally silent, everytime. This is no hyperbole, everyone goes silent when he tries a joke, even if we are cracking up at the table.
Sam gave it a6:
Yes, Madagascar can be funny at times, but it lacks the wit and charm of Shrek, its sequel, and Over the Hedge. But at least it's an improvement over the disatrous Shark Tale.
Brian S. gave it a9:
Funny,Sweet and Highly Addicting.
Rami W. gave it a10:
the lemurs are so funny i cracked up laughing and dancing about that song so everybody stop giving this movie a low score and MOVE IT!
Joey gave it a7:
I could see a fantastic movie here - until the end. It was really good start -middle but it just ended suddenly. I enjoyed the film but I would've given it a higher score if it had a better ending.
Sara H. gave it a6:
The penguins rocked. The rest sucked. My 5 year old sister liked it though and alot of my friends do too. I was bored with it.
Alison R. gave it a0:
Insufferable.
