Madagascar

There may be some who feel that talking animals are inherently funny. I am not among them; in general, the concept is ludicrous, fantastic. We imagine that beasts of all shapes have eminently human characteristics, their lives shaped by the competitive realities that man has invented. But society, most thinkers would argue, is a prison unto itself; given these strictures, we believe that lions and zebras and giraffes and hippos would behave much as we do. The irony is that their lives are so much simpler: they eat, and are eaten.

Dreamworks nearly creates of this dichotomy a stellar movie in ?Madagascar? ? alas, where the technical abilities of its animators shine clearly through, their ability to think their way out of a plot ? never mind an intellectual theme ? is voraciously eaten by the animal that is comedic slapstick. The movie will tickle your kids, but it?s terribly paced and hasn?t a stray intelligent thought to add to our lives. This from the team that gave us ?Shrek? ? as smart a film as any animation house has invented? What happened?

The movie opens in the Central Park Zoo in New York City, where Alex the lion (Ben Stiller) enjoys his status as the zoo?s main attraction, Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) exists in a hypochondriac state, Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) wallows in blissful captivity. Their friend Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), however, yearns to run in the open fields ? and hatches a plot to escape the zoo after dark one evening. It?s shockingly easy, of course; the animals apparently roam into and out of each other?s pens with impunity, and without regard for the natural order of carnivorous appetites. As Marty saunters down to Grand Central Station, the others attempt to bring him back; but all are caught and shipped out to Kenya ? another turn of events more convenient than logical. On the way, four industrious penguins take control of the ship, landing Alex, Melman, Gloria and Marty unexpectedly on the shores of Madagascar to fend for themselves.

It?s a completely nonsensical plot, and it takes a cue from the penguins by heading south quickly. There are moments that are quite comical, and Ben Stiller actually pulls a decent performance out of his animated character. Rock?s voice is far too distinct to integrate with a zebra comfortably, and Schwimmer and Pinkett Smith fail to infuse meaning into their counterparts ? any actor at all could have performed to the same effect. And apart from the jokes, which often hit well but are interspaced with interminable bouts of insipid plotting or character development that clearly tries too hard, there is simply not much here.

But the criminal simplification of the natural order is what sets this film onto the path of denigration. ?The Lion King? paid tribute to the circle of life; ?Madagascar? defies it. Alex should have eaten Marty in their first scene together, but in their talking, elastic, ultimately humanistic world such ugliness has no place. Instead, we take the fluffier side of the animal kingdom on a wise-cracking jaunt into a world where risk is synonymous with not being served hand and (forgive me) hoof. We teach our kids this way, and they?re liable to grow up with a misbegotten sense of entitlement, whining piteously about their lot before they are swallowed whole by the society they thought was fluffy and cute? but in fact is many orders more vicious than the wildlands of Madagascar.