Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Dreamworks' animated films have not been able to hold a candle to caliber of Disney/Pixar films, but let's face it: who can? That said, Madagascar 2 is learning from Pixar at the very least. Animated films work when they are able to successfully blend humor, heart, and a good story to keep the audience sustained for at least 90 minutes.

Madagascar 2 starts in the right direction by presenting a very nice opening featuring a brief origin of Alex and how he got to New York. It's probably less than 5 minutes, but already set the tone for the heart of the picture, which focuses chiefly on Alex fitting in with his fellow lions. The other chief characters are also stumbling as they interact with their own in Africa.

Also back is the humor. I sometimes feel like the movies would be funnier if the penguins had more screen time, but they are still funny in whatever scenes they're in. The granny who beat up Alex in the first film is also back for some humor. The humor is better and more consistent than the first.

The only flaw in the film is that it is fairly predictable. The chracters are a little bit better here than in the first and it has a good heart, but sometimes they don't spend as long on the emotional aspect as they could. It's still good entertainment and I like to see Dreamworks progress with their films.

note: this blue ray includes the nick penguins episodes available in the dvd 2 pack

Buy Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) Now

Wow. One could spend some serious paragraphs dissecting all that is great about this one. Clarity, picture, colors, sounds, extras they are all there.

As listed earlier, the much sought after Penguins episode is included on this BD, along with four music videos, fun games, trivia and plenty of material to give the kids some additional insight about all the that is Madagascar and all in hidef! Oh yeah, the story is funny and has lines to keep both the adults and kids entertained.

The movie has been a hit in the store and shows off any HD display beautifully. The sound and music are mixed very well but the animation clarity even shows through enough for kids to say how "totally cool" it looks. Just had a pre-school class of girls visit the store for a field trip and all 7 of them loved it.

Hope you enjoy...forgot to mention: I laughed out loud more than a few times, those penguins are great ("...you're all males..") gotta love it.

Read Best Reviews of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) Here

Surprisingly Madagascar Escape2Africa is as enjoyable as the first film, which these days of shoddy sequels of a feat unto itself. The Bluray transfer is excellent. Picture 5/5 Sound 4/5 (Because it is 5.1) My wife and kids loved the first film and were just as entertained by this one. Also the decision to include DVDs and not digital copies was a wise choice. Every other digital copy I try to download into iTunes fails because they are expired. Why oh why do the studios do this. Digital copies are splashed over the covers of DVDs and now Bluray. So kudos to Dreamworks for including proper DVDs. For those of us that have children and travel, at least me, love having a DVD to play in the minivan and my portable DVD player.

Want Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) Discount?

After the Furious Five fiasco, Dreamworks has decided to give you all the goodies--and more--in the Blu-Ray release of Madagascar 2. Not only do you get the behind-the-scenes, commentary, and other extras of the DVD, you also get the two Penguin cartoons from the 2-pack DVD bundle...and...

Easter Eggs! Go to the Penguin episodes menu. Highlight an episode. Move the directional controller on your remote and a penguin appears! Each episode will let you slide off the menu to two penguins, for a total of four extra "short" animations that launch when you select the penguin.

The Penguin episodes (and shorts) are hilarious. The quality of the Blu-Ray version is eye-popping: while Kung-Fu Panda produces lots of color and detail, Madagascar 2 goes it one step further with some pretty amazing depth of focus. Some of the panning shots, for example, seem to pop off the screen.

In addition to all this, BD Live will connect you to other extras: we watched a pretty good short documentary about lions, for example. The way the menu is built makes me think there might be more to come.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, Madagascar 2 is a bizarre and hilarious sequel. It introduces new characters, keeps the favorites from the first, and adds yet more movie spoofs and references for the grown-ups, some of them obvious (the Lion King) and some more obscure (The In-Laws). If you're buying for a small child, chances are they might not follow the nuances of blu-ray: the DVD will upscale enough on most players. But for the best experience, this blu-ray is the version to buy.

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