In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer from TV's Friends) and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) have decided to make their way back to New York City (with the help of the airplane the Penguins have made). And to help add to the hilarity of the situation, King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer) and Mort (Andy Richter) will be joining the gang.
Of course, trusting a plane built by a quartet of flightless-birds is always a mistake. As it turns out, the plane falls apart over Africa and the gang all crash land in a wildlife preserve. But as fate would have it, this is the same preserve that Alex was taken from as a cub.
At first, life at the watering hole is perfect. Not only has Alex found his parents, his father Zuba (the late Bernie Mac), the ruler of the land, and his mother (Sherri Shepherd), but Marty has found a herd of Zebras that love everything he loves, Gloria has found other Hippos (and a possible love interest, much to Melman's chagrin), while Melman has found a group of giraffes looking for a new doctor.
The problem is that Zuba's reign isn't unchallenged. In fact, for many years another lion, Makunga (Alec Baldwin), has constantly tried to take over the lead position, and he sees Alex's return as the opportunity he needs.
When Alex doesn't fulfill the right of passage that he missed years ago, he is thrown out of the pride and Zuba relinquishes his command of the watering hole. To make matters worse, Marty is finding it a bit tedious being a part of a group of people exactly like him, Gloria's new love (played by Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am) and Melman fears a new disease that apparently befell the group's previous witch doctor.
Meanwhile, the penguins, Skipper (Tom McGarth), Kowalski (Chris Miller) and Private (Christopher Knights) and Rico are working to rebuild the plane (along with a few hundred monkeys) and the lemurs work to legitimize King Julien's own fictional rule over the animals of the reserve.
The second disc features two episodes from the new series The Penguins of Madagascar. This series seems to take us back to the Bronx Zoo where the penguins have free reign over the area, but acting opposite to the quartet's antics are Julian, Maurice and Mort. While I enjoyed both episodes on the DVD, especially "Popcorn Panic," it is pretty obvious that most of the voices aren't the same as from the movie.
Both discs also have a ton of special features. Along with the episodes of the new series, the Penguins disc features a description of Alex's various dance moves, documentaries on both lions in the wild and the Bronx Zoo. The feature presentation disc isn't without features either. There is a featurette that interviews the cast members (as well as a brief remembrance of Bernie Mac), the storyboards for the plane crash scene, a bit about speaking Swahili and a DVD game that has you trying to fix the plane while it is in-flight.
I have to say, I enjoyed the first Madagascar movie, but I absolutely loved the sequel. I found myself laughing more and generally enjoying the interaction between the different characters. On that same note, the addition of several new big-name stars to the already star-studded cast just helps the movie overall. This movie is definitely worth seeing, but I would probably recommend the Blu-ray version over the DVD (provided you already have a player) since the difference in both visual and sound quality is outstanding.
