Madagascar Movie

Directors:
Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath

Writing credits
Mark Burton (written by)
Billy Frolick (written by)
Eric Darnell (written by)
Tom McGrath (written by)

Release Date:
27 May 2005 (USA)

Genre:
Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Cast :
* Ben Stiller as Alex
* Chris Rock as Marty
* Andy Richter as Mort
* David Schwimmer as Melman
* Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria
* Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien
* Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice
* Tom McGrath as Skipper
* John DiMaggio as Rico
* Chris Miller as Kowalski
* Christopher Knights as Private
* Conrad Vernon as Mason
* Bob Saget as (animal unclear)
1.Alex the Lion is the most popular animal at the Central Park Zoo. Nicknamed The King of New York, he is very happy with life in the zoo. When the characters first arrive in Madagascar, he is the loudest proponent of trying to return to the zoo. He is extremely fond of eating steaks but has no idea that they come from animals until he goes into withdrawal after 2 days of not eating after reaching Madagascar.

2.Marty the Zebra is the instigator behind escaping from the zoo. He constantly dreams about the wild (which he interprets as Connecticut) and wonders what life would be like beyond the zoo. One night, following the successful escape of the penguins, he leaves the zoo too, causing his friends to attempt a rescue at Grand Central Station. After they are recaptured from the train station, animal rights activists hold a rally, leading the zoo to have them and the rest of the animals shipped to a wildlife preserve in Kenya. But the penguins hijack the ship and accidentally cause the crates containing Marty and his friends to fall off. The crates float on the ocean until they reach Madagascar.

3.Melman the Giraffe is a hypochondriac who was transferred to the Central Park Zoo as a young adult. Because of his previous stay in the Bronx Zoo, Melman believes that he's a real worldly guy, the most experienced in his circle of friends. He's also on a lot of medication and has lots of experience in MRI machines.

4.Gloria the Hippo serves as the mediator and the nurturer of the group who takes care of the others and tends to take charge when needed and loves to eat and live the good life.

5.The Penguins, a group of four consisting of Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, and Private, spend their days planning an escape that will take them back to Antarctica. When the penguins do make it to Antarctica, they are surprised to see a cold, barren land that they do not like and so, decide to take the ship to what they consider "paradise": Florida. However, having run out of fuel, they beach the ship in Madagascar. Skipper is the leader of the group. Kowalski, the smartest and tallest of the penguins, thinks of plans and takes notes for Skipper. Private is distinguishable by his googly eyes and soft English accent; he is the youngest of the group. Rico is good with knives, has a fondness for explosives, and is the only one of the four seen swimming. He also regurgitates useful objects (a variation of the "magic satchel") such as a piece of wire for picking locks with. Alex describes the penguins as psychotic (while they say the same of him). Skipper calls Marty their "monochromatic friend", amusing since both kinds of animals are "black and white".

6.King Julien XIII the Ring-tailed Lemur is the self-proclaimed King of the Madagascar lemurs. Julien speaks with an Indian accent and loves to sing, dance, and be the center of attention. Julien is annoyed by the lemur Mort and even suggests feeding him to Alex in order to help him get over his addiction to steak. He wears a crown made out of leaves, and later a larger one that features a gecko. The other lemurs hang on his every word. He is slightly deranged and overly impressed by his modest intellect. Julien is also very weird and dramatic. He contrives a plan to use Alex to protect the lemurs from their natural enemies, the fossa, as long as Alex doesn't overshadow his own glory. Also, according to the song "I Like to Move It" King Julien XIII is about 68 years old. According to a May 26, 2005 interview with Director Tom McGrath in the Seattle Post Intelligencer [1], "We had this two-line character, Julian [sic], and we got a tape of the show 'Ali G' with Sacha Baron Cohen. He came in and he invented this Indian accent. We gave him a couple of lines and he turned them into eight minutes of dialogue. We were just in tears on the floor and thought, 'This guy has to be the king.' So that was just a two-line part that he invented and it turned into that role."

7.Maurice the Aye-aye is Julien's assistant and second in command of the lemurs. He is in charge of announcing Julien to his court, though he finds this task tedious. He is generally less impressed by Julien than the other lemurs. Maurice shows the most intelligence in Julien's court, and is the only one to recognize Alex as a potentially greater threat than the fossa.

8.Mort is a Goodman's Mouse Lemur, animals find him adorable, but King Julien is highly annoyed by him, eventually shouting "Oh, shut up, you're so annoying!" in response to his inane chatter but Mort responds to this by giggling and looking flattered. In the commentary for the film, the director mentioned that Mort was actually 35.

9.The Fossas are predators native to Madagascar, who look like hyenas or half-cat half-dog creatures in appearance. Known as the top predators in the island of Madagascar, the fossa are the villains of the movie, constantly trying to kill and eat the lemurs. According to Julien, "they're always annoying us by trespassing, interrupting our parties, and ripping our limbs off". They are cowards, however, and always flee when confronted by a bigger predator, such as Alex. They also use foreign objects such as salt and pepper shakers.


Original Sound Track :
01. Hans Zimmer/Heitor Pereira/Ryeland Allison/James S. Levine - Best Friends
02. Sacha Baron Cohen - [Madagascar OST #2/12] I Like To Move It
03. The Ventures - [Madagascar OST #3/12] Hawaii Five-O
04. Earth, Wind & Fire - [Madagascar OST #4/12] Boogie Wonderland
05. James Dooley - [Madagascar OST #5/12] Whacked Out Conspiracy
06. Vangelis - [Madagascar OST #6/12] Chariots Of Fire
07. The Bee Gees - [Madagascar OST #7/12] Stayin' Alive
08. Hans Zimmer - [Madagascar OST #8/12] Zoosters Breakout
09. Hans Zimmer - [Madagascar OST #9/12] Born Free
10. Heitor Pereira - [Madagascar OST #10/12] The Foosa Attack
11. Hans Zimmer and James S. Levine - [Madagascar OST #11/12] Beacon Of Liberty
12. Louis Armstrong - [Madagascar OST #12/12] What A Wonderful World

Plot :
At the Central Park Zoo, Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) is celebrating his tenth birthday, but longs to see the rest of the world from outside their pampered life at the zoo. Believing that he can find wide-open spaces to run in Connecticut, he joins with the zoo's penguins who are trying to escape the zoo. Marty's friends, Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), realize Marty's folly and try to follow him. The four, along with the penguins (consisting of Skipper (McGrath), Rico (John DiMaggio), Kowalski (Chris Miller), and Private (Christopher Knights)) and two monkeys, Mason (Conrad Vernon) and Phil, eventually find themselves at Grand Central Station, but are quickly sedated by tranquilizer darts. The zoo, under protest of animal-rights activists, are forced to ship the animals by sea to Kenya. During their travels, the penguins manage to escape and take over the ship, intent on taking it to Antarctica. Their antics on the bridge cause the crates containing Marty, Alex, Gloria, and Melman to fall off the boat and wash ashore on Madagascar.

The animals are soon able to regroup, initially believing themselves to be in San Diego, California. Upon exploring, however, they come across a pack of lemurs lead by King Julien XIII (Sacha Baron Cohen), and quickly learn of their location. Alex blames Marty for their predicament and attempts to signal for help to get back to civilization, while Marty finds the wild to be exactly what he was looking for, with Gloria and Melman soon joining him in enjoying the island. Alex eventually comes around, though his hunting instincts begin to return after being away from the pampered zoo life for so long. The group is accepted by the lemurs, though King Julien's adviser, Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer), cautions them about Alex being a predator. King Julien ignores Maurice's concerns and persuades the group to help the lemurs fend off the fossa who hunt the lemurs as prey. When Alex begins to turn on his friends and the lemurs, unable to overcome his instincts, King Julien bans him to the far side of the island with the fossa. Marty begins to regret seeing what Alex has turned into.

The penguins, having been to Antarctica and finding it not to their liking, land the boat on Madagascar. Seeing this as a chance to return Alex to New York, Marty, with Gloria and Melman, goes to find Alex but become trapped by the fossa. Alex suddenly appears and approaches Marty as if he were prey, but then turns on the fossa to scare them away from the lemur territory forever, showing Marty he has overcome his predatory nature, and satisfy his meat craving through sushi instead of steak. As lemurs throw a bon voyage celebration for the foursome, the penguins decide not to break the news that the ship has run out of fuel and that they are still stuck on the island, setting the stage for Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

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