Monday, November 17, 2008

Madagascar 2: The Adult Review

First, and I cannot say this strongly enough, I only like animated kids' movies with jokes for the adults. Hello, am I going to pay $5.50 for a movie that doesn't pander to me? The short answer is no. Wait, $5.50?? And, in addition, the movie theater was crowded!! We had to pick seats within the row, which, as many of you know, does not really account for the length of Middlebrow's legs. On the plus side, the fact that we arrived late meant that we only had to watch three trailers and not the requisite nine, along with multiple ads for soda and popcorn and turning off of the cell phones which we do not possess.
But, to the movie. Hilarious! Now, I know some have called it "mediocre" and "not as good as the first one" but, who are these people? Were they aware they were not watching "The Godfather, Part II" or even "Grease 2" ? (which was terrible, btw, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't watch it again given popcorn and a sudden rainstorm)
The best parts were, in this order: the penguins and King Julian. See, I could take or leave the main characters and the main plot line (though come on, Alec Baldwin! Did they think they could slip that one past me? and will.i.am? Bernice Mac?), but who doesn't love penguins with insane mechanical knowledge and a love of music that rivals my own? (Copacabana anyone?). Penguins who have to negotiate with monkeys because they can't use tools? (they have no thumbs!)
The best joke of the entire movie is when King Julian suggests that "we invade a neighboring country and impose our ideology on them even if they don't want it."
C'mon! What's not to love?

5 comments:

ErinAlice said...

I agree with you. All of it. I read a review that panned it but I don't care what those people say. I too liked King Julian. Our theater wasn't crowded so that was nice. Funny!!

Lisa B. said...

Fun to see this kind of movie with a kid, but also have the movie work for you. I just saw the first one, so perhaps I will slip into an afternoon showing.

Clint Gardner said...

Hmm...I wasn't aware there was a first Madagascar, but I'll take your word for it. In any case, I like your approach to "kid" movies. Roger Ebert also shares that view: he won't change how he reacts to a movie despite who the target audience is. I think not compromising one's angle of repose is an admirable thing in a film critic.

I, for example, watched "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" movie and thought it had about 3 times less appeal than the god-awful post trilogy trilogy in said Star Wars saga. Still, I liked bits of it for its ambition. No Wookies, however, spelled its doom. Star Wars without Wookies? Blasphemy!

See that's how we adults review movies.

Anonymous said...

Loved the penguins in the first one ("Cute and Cuddly! Cute and Cuddly!) so can't wait to go see the 2nd one! Thanks for the review!

Nik said...

I couldn't get into the first one so I have high hopes. My favorite is Ice Age but anything with animals and adult-directed jokes makes me happy.