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For Some Reason, Anonus Watches Madagascar

AnonusAnonus
edited 2014-11-20 01:24:02 in Liveblogs
Madagascar: the first entry in one of those seemingly interminable animated film franchises that has had seemingly no real impact on anything. Released in 2005 by the then red-hot, Shrek-fueled DreamWorks Animation, Madagascar isn't as good as the first two entries in that franchise, from which DWA derived pretty much all of its goodwill. What follows is, to a certain point, copied from the main thread.

They're going for this fast-paced brand of humor, and it doesn't seem to work very well

The voices of Ben Stiller and Chris Rock don't seem to fit their characters (Alex the lion and Marty the zebra) very well

and they're not that distinct (Chris Rock is more distinct than Ben Stiller but still)

Comments

  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Gloria the hippo is Jada Pinkett Smith's only notable role (and perhaps she got it because Katzenberg loves celebrity and her husband was in DWA's previous effort, Shark Tale), and we have Melman the giraffe, played by the fresh-off-of-Friends David Schwimmer

    What kind of name is "Melman" anyway
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Hey naney, your un-favorite Hans Zimmer did the orchestral music for this movie
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    ah here come the good characters, the Penguins
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    so we go from the Penguins plotting their escape from the zoo to Marty doing armpit farts and proclaiming "you don't see that on Animal Planet"

    never before has the contrast between humor and fake-humor been so pronounced
  • Salix BabylonikaSalix Babylonika
    edited 2014-11-20 01:28:51
    https://i.imgur.com/IoGc2jA.jpg
    I saw Madagascar when it was new as part of a double feature at a drive-in with Sharkboy & LavaGirl

    what a time.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    (end copypasting)

    I love how the Penguins feel like they snuck in from/got lost on the way to something better

    (though their designs fit right in; the designs of the main characters were the work of Craig Kellman and one of the redeeming aspects of it in my view)
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Magic Jane said:

    I saw Madagascar when it was new as part of a double feature at a drive-in with Sharkboy & LavaGirl


    what a time.
    DreamWorks and Disney together? Oooooh!
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    anyway, on a more descriptive note

    the Penguins appeared in Marty's part of the zoo, told him they were escaping to the wild, and disappeared. Marty loves the idea of going to the wild; indeed, the movie opens with him dreaming about being in an idealized forest.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    For Marty's birthday party that night, he receives a gift from Melman, something personal: his first rectal thermometer.

    I admit, I kind of like how messed-up Melman is.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Marty blew out his birthday candle, wishing to go to the wild. Everybody else is shocked at this, and Alex proclaims it the worst idea he's ever heard. Whether or not it's a worse idea than 8-track tapes, he didn't say.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    So Marty's escaped from the zoo, hoping to go to Connecticut, where he heard there are wide open spaces. His friends follow him.

    Marty is ice-skating in the rink at Rockefeller Center. In the background of one shot, you can see a building reading "PDI NEWS". (PDI is Pacific Data Images, one component of DreamWorks Animation)
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Down at a train station, Melman has determined that a urinal cake is a mint.

    I don't know if I want to regale this thread's readers on any more of this
  • lee4hmzlee4hmz
    ⚠ THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS
    mmm, para-dichlorobenzene (if they're the old kind anyway)
  • AnonusAnonus
    edited 2014-11-20 04:17:59
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Okay, fine, I know I skipped like a huge chunk of the thing (including the whole time spent on the titular island), but it actually wasn't that bad

    Not as good as the first two Shrek movies, but still

    If DWA hadn't shat out Shark Tale and Bee Movie in the same time period and avoided turning this into a franchise it might be better-remembered

    They do at least know what they have in the Penguins though
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    I have an on-and-off fixation on DWA, if you haven't noticed

    The ego of the man in charge, their poor reputation, the increasingly surreal collapse the company is facing at the present time (Section and I give it five years at most before it croaks)
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    As for the movie itself, to be truthful, the fiery Chris Rock being in a kid-appeal role is a bit odd to me, even if it is perfectly understandable why ordinarily less-family friendly celebs take roles in these things...
  • AlirozAliroz
    ...And even when your hope is gone
    move along, move along, just to make it through
    (2015 self)
    The choir in the beginning of the movie is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
  • TreTre
    image
    this series is kind of a good barometer regarding the quality of DWA's output

    the first one is okay but it kind of sucks in comparison to the second and (especially) the third
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