Madagascar
All Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) dreams about is living in the outside world, even though he enjoys his current lifestyle of living in the Central Park zoo while hanging out with his best friends Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith). One night, Marty makes a run for it to try to go to Connecticut. While his friends catch up to him, so do the humans and soon all four are being shipped to an African wildlife refuge. En route, penguins take over the ship and during the ensuing madness, the four crates holding the four friends go overboard, ending up in the African island of Madagascar.

There's a lot to admire about this animated feature (hey, they're just not cartoons anymore). Its depiction of the New York City nightlife is impeccable. But with the Disney cartoons of the '90s and the recent Pixar features, the bar has been raised and Madagascar just barely rises above it. Where the other features in essence dream the impossible dream, Madagascar only has the reality of being dumped on an island with singing lemurs and the daunting task for Alex the lion to refuse to eat his dear friend Marty. Not exactly the same. The film is humorous and will certainly entertain the kids, it however will not appeal to adults as today's animated features do. 2.5 stars