Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

(USA, 2008, 89 minutes)

An attempted flight out from Madagascar crashlands, stranding the four NYC Zoo castaways of the original movie in their African homeland. More of the same as the first movie and equally as intermittently funny, only with a Lion King-light subplot creaking under the weight of a non-stop assault of sitcom gags. A lively time-passer.

A Paramount Pictures release of a Dreamworks Animation presentation/production. With the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Sherri Shepherd, Will.i.am. Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath; produced by Mireille Soria, Mark Swift; written by Etan Cohen, Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath; music and songs by Hans Zimmer and Will.i.am; production designer, Kendal Cronkite-Shaindlin; film editor, H. Lee Petersen; cinematography consultant, Guillermo Navarro.