THE FILM-                    3.5 stars out of 5

 

The gang from Madagascar all return for this sequel, which finds our “heroes” looking to leave Madagascar and return to New York on an airplane built by the penguins that were the highlight of the original film. All the same actors return here to do the voices, namely Ben Stiller as the Lion, Chris Rock as the Zebra, Jada Pinkett Smith as the Hippo and David Schwimmer as the neurotic Giraffe. As one would expect from a plane built by a group of very industrious penguins, the plane develops some serious problems in flight and comes to an unexpected and abrupt landing in Africa and lands right smack dab in the lion Alex’s home where he is reunited with his mother and father and gets caught up in a scheme of another lion challenging his rather for head of the Pride. This sequel covers similar thematic issues as the original but scores a higher rating for me than the original due to the expanded role of the penguins in this film which are the highlight of the film for me. Recommended as a film the entire family can enjoy.

 

THE VIDEO-                4.85 stars out of 5

 

This release is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1 and in a word, looks fantastic. This release boasts a bright and bold color palette with deep and rich blacks an excellent level of detail. As a result of the deep blacks and excellent level of detail, the level of clarity of image is fantastic with a fine sense of image depth and three dimensionality. The detail here is simply superb with each hair on Alex’s mane clearly visible. If the image is so good, then why not a perfect score of 5? Good question. If not for the truly stunning releases from Pixar of Wall-E and Ratatouille, Madagascar 2 would rate a five. However, as it falls just a bit short of the 2 Pixar films in terms of very fine detail and color gradations, I can’t give it the same score as those films, where were both solid 5 star efforts. However, Madagascar 2 is a great looking encode and would otherwise rate a full 5 stars, it looks that good.

 

THE AUDIO-            5 stars out of 5

 

While I had to grade the video on this release a bit short of a full 5 star rating, no such reduction was required for the audio which sounds fantastic. The audio on Madagascar 2 is presented with Dolby True HD and is top notch in all respects. The overall sound is rich, smooth and open with excellent transparency and imaging. Bass is deep and tight as well, presenting a solid foundation for the rest of the audio. Dynamics are excellent as well. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that superb use was made of the surround speakers resulting in a lively and engaging sound field with an excellent sense of immersion. Overall, this is a top notch audio presentation. Well done.

 

EXTRAS

 

Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa comes equipped with the Blu-Ray exclusive The Animators’ Corner: Storyboards and Interviews as well as a trivia track. Also included (and in HD to boot) is the featurette The Penguins of Madagascar, 4 mad music videos, Alex;s Dance-Off, test Flight of Air Penguin video game and Jambo, Jambo Swahili Speak.

 

IN CONCLUSION

 

Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa is the rare sequel that actually improves on the original and is a fun filled film for the entire family and is well worth a look. Recommended.