Madagascar Franchise Review

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to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle,

or MP3 player. Beyond good, beyond evil, beyond

your wildest imagination. Welcome to the Central

Park Zoo. Just smile and wave, boys. Today we're

gonna blow this dump. Look at the people, Marty.

Oh, I love the people. This is the life. They

had the best of everything. Just doesn't get

any better than this, you know? Until they wanted

a night on the town. Let's go. What? Come on.

We can be back by morning. The penguins are gone.

This place is crack -a -lacket. We've been ratted

out, boys. Good evening, officers. Now, they're

being sent way out of town. Oh great, this is

just great. This could be the best thing that's

ever happened to us! No, no, no, no, no, no,

no! Hey, hi. We just got in from New York. Welcome

aboard! What are they? What are they? They're

just a bunch of fancies. Let's go and meet the

Ponzies! What is he? Guinea Pig? I think it's

a squirrel. Could you excuse me for a moment?

What are you doing? I'm swimming back to New

York! Help! Ben Stiller, we just gotta ask these

bozos where the people are. How you doing? We're

just trying to find out where the - Sorry. Oh,

Alex. Chris Rock. Yeah! You don't see that on

Animal Planet. David Schwimmer. Nature! It's

all over me! Get it off! Jada Pinkett Smith.

Alex, don't! Oy vey. Oy vey! Oy vey, everybody!

Oy vey! From DreamWorks Animation. Where are

you giants from? We're from New York. All hail

the New York Giants! New York! They're out of

the zoo. Navigation! Without a clue. Don't give

me excuses! Give me results! Madagascar. Talk

to him Alex, you know, go over there and give

him a little pep talk. I'm coming with you. Stop

that thing. He's carrying scissors and hand cream.

Buckle up, boys. This might get hairy. Launch!

Analysis. It looks like a small incandescent

bulb, designed to indicate something out of the

ordinary, like a malfunction. Right. Rico. Manual.

Problem solved. It's more fun when you raise

your arms like this. My goodness, doll, you're

shaking like a leaf. Who says a penguin can't

fly? How are you gonna fix this? We should be

up and running in, say, six to nine months. Sixty

-nine months? No, six to nine months. Who made

you king of the plane wreck? Excuse me. The casino.

Perfect. That's where I'll find the penguins.

You'd kill a fight like a bunch of little girls.

Timmy Changa. These pillars are filled with baby

birds. I drop down, grab the penguins, and we

are out of here. Oh, let me drop down. I'll grab

the penguins. Enough! I'm gonna... I am so happy

to see you fool. How could you let them get away

all my face? Step on it boys. Let's get out of

here. Well, so after 12 o 'clock guys, we've

got a tail His throne is for circus animals only.

I don't trust lion. Hair too big and glossy.

He's not lion. He's lioness. This is awkward.

Remember, we just lay low. Just until the heat

dies down. We're invisible. Mark? Marty? Da da

da da da da da da circus da da da da da da da

da afro circus afro circus afro polka dot polka

dot polka dot afro Really? Welcome to episode

42 of Tooncast Beyond, brought to you by the

Geekcast, Radio Network, and Audible .com. I

am your host, Steve, Joe, and Mike, and joining

me is Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. How are you?

Newly moved. Yes. You now have a dungeon to go

along with your Megatron persona. Yes, and then

the unfortunate part is I'm... Basically, in

the sewer. Be careful of that turtle soup. Damn.

Saddle? This is crawling. Today, as we continue

on in the season two of DreamWorks here on Tomb

of Caspian, we're going to be... Tearing into

the Madagascar films, but we are not going to

be doing this in our traditional sense of how

we review them we are going to review the Madagascar

films as an overall franchise discussion because

neither one of us have seen the third film and

the This oh god, what is it? Oh god the stupid

zebra Chris Rock. What the hell's he say circus

Circus some I forget what the fuck the thing

is in the trailer. I don't remember I um the

trailer in a little bit So no circus afro, that's

what it is cuz he's got stupid afro on his head.

That's what it is. Oh God, so yeah, we're gonna

be doing things a little bit differently this

time around We're gonna talk about them individually,

but we're gonna talk about as a franchise just

to give the brief information on all three films.

The first film, which came out in 2005, Produced

by DreamWorks Animation and released into movie

theaters on May 27th of 05. The film tells the

story of four Central Park Zoo animals who have

spent their lives in blissful captivity and are

unexpectedly shipped back to Africa getting shipwrecked

in the island of Madagascar. The voices of Ben

Stiller, Jaina Piggins -Smith, Chris Rock, and

David Schwimmer are featured. Other voices include

Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy

Richter and Andy Richter Madagascar was released

on DVD November of 2005 along with a short film

of Madagascar penguins in a Christmas caper Blu

-ray disc came out later. Blah blah is followed

by the other two sequels I Saw this when it came

to DVD I Just don't know man. I just don't I

will say up front, my biggest positive from this

franchise are the penguins. They are fucking

hilarious. I love the penguins. Oh, they're by

far my favorite part. The penguins make the movie.

As far as the other characters, I just can't.

And this was back. Madagascar 1 was back before

Chris Rock was like, I get paid a million dollars

to do voice work. Because I'm just that awesome.

Yeah. Yeah, not Go back to China or whatever

and do a fourth rush hour. Oh wait, that's supposed

to be happening. Anyway, um, I The overall plot

of this is is I guess it's decent for a family

film and I guess it's great for kids. I don't

love love, but I enjoy all of the Shrek films.

I enjoy B -movie. I enjoy a lot of the DreamWorks

stuff. At the same time, I can't stand a lot

of it. These three films are part of what I just

don't like about it. They don't tell a really...

good story and to me the whole thing with with

uh... alex the lion the main part of it be between

all three of these films is and i know this is

probably true because well catzenberg is now

dream works and used to be a disney these three

films felt like a rip -off of the lion king to

me not really where your own When did you first

see the first movie and what are your initial

thoughts on it? When I first saw the first movie,

it was right around the time it came out. I really

enjoyed it. Not only do I like the voice cast,

I liked the movie overall. Of course, there were

a lot of B plots going on and C plots going on

with the Animals of Madagascar and then where

you had Sacha Baron Cohen, which he played that

role awesomely. I like him in works that I don't

have to see his face. But what made it even better

was The Penguins. That movie, because of The

Penguins, made that movie gold to me. Which...

I will not disagree that parts of it are pretty

kind of whatever, I don't care. That's pretty

much why DreamWorks had to make The Wild to compete

with this. But I really loved the first film.

It's kind of hard to top that. But I mean I I

like the animation for what it was. It's I prefer

more realistic, but for what they did with it

I think it worked really well. Yeah You know

It's just the film just didn't grab me I don't

know why I just didn't So we move on to and we'll

get into the voice acting and everything else

like we always do later But just to set the stage

for the for the three films Getting to the second

film, which was released in 2008. The sequel

to the 2005 Madagascar continues the adventures

of Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the

Giraffe, and Gloria the Hippo. Starring also

again still Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer,

Jada Pinkett Smith, Sasha Baron Cohen, Cedric

the Entertainer. and Andy Richter also providing

voices are Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin, Sherry Shepherd,

Eliza Gabrielli, and Will .i .am. It was produced

by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount

Pictures. The film starts as a prequel showing

a small part of Alec's early life, including

his capture by hunters. It soon moves shortly

after the point where the original left off with

the animals. Deciding to return to New York,

they board an airplane in Madagascar and crash

land in Africa, where each of the central characters

meets others of the same species. Alex is reunited

with his parents, problems arise, and the resolution

occupies much of the remainder of the film. It

won the 2009 Kids' Choice Award for anything

kids based can win a Kids' Choice Award. For

favorite animated movie, the film was released

posthumously after the death of Bernie Mac, who

voices Zoo with a lion The movie reads for our

friend Bernie Mac. Thanks for all the laughter

in the final credits I think more so this film

versus The first film is where I get the lion

king ripoff vibe about yeah, I could kind of

get that For me the second film didn't really

hold up as well as the first Yeah But but again,

it's been done better. That's yeah but again,

you know The penguins. They just... Every movie

that's the only reason I watch them, pretty much.

It's the penguins. And then the reason that they

got their own TV show. Yes, yes. Which is fully

deserved. I love that show. I love that show.

For anyone wondering or anyone that might comment

on this episode post on geekcastradio .com, Tooncast

Beyond will be covering the television series

The Penguins of Madagascar, but... not until

we get to the Nickelodeon. It's gonna be a while

before we get there, but we will be covering

it. I'm waiting for it to come to... I'm not

looking at any DVD information. I'm waiting for

it to come to DVD at some point for a complete

series, maybe, because I think a couple weeks

ago, about a month or so ago, I saw a Kevin Michael

Richardson tweet on Twitter. about that they

wrapped up Penguins and Madagascar so I think

sadly the series is over which sucks but I think

it's been on for a while at this point so but

we will get to it eventually like I said before

the way that Beyond kind of runs as we do, you

know film series or film seasons and then later

when we get to Where cartoons actually aired

on which networks is when we'll get to certain

cartoons for that one We're gonna admit right

up front that Neither one of us have seen Madagascar

3 Europe's most wanted I believe it's still in

theaters. I don't think it's come out on DVD

yet I don't know, for me, it's not just me looking

at a trailer and saying, oh, this sucks. It's

for me, because I do watch a lot of television,

and I see a lot of commercials. When I see the

same movie trailer five times in an hour, I'm

going to get sick of that. And when Madagascar

3 hit, the marketing campaign for it was just

blitzing to everybody. I don't care to see this

film. But I'll go ahead and give the information

on Europe's Most Wanted. It came out this year.

Third installment of the series, Falling Madagascar

Madagascar Escaped Africa is the first film in

the series to be released in 3D. The film's world

premiere was at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

on May 18th. I find this funny. Released on June

8th, 2012, it is the best reviewed film in the

series with a 75 % certified fresh approval rating

on the review site Rotten Tomatoes. The third

film also became a box -office success with worldwide

gross of over $548 million. I'm actually going

to read part of the plot here on the third one.

just so people can get a feel for what the third

one is. The story continues from the events of

the second film. Alex has a nightmare about himself

and his friends still stranded in Africa and

finding they have all gotten old. He then wakes

from this dream on his birthday and the animals

present him with a miniature model of New York

City. Alex suggests to Marty played by Chris

Rock, Melman, David Schwimmer, and Gloria, Jada

Pinkett Smith, that they should go to Monte Carlo

to get the penguins to fly them back to New York,

which they agree to do. So the whole franchise

at this point is these are all animals from the

Central Park Zoo in New York City, USA. Who then

gets stranded in Africa in the second film and

the third film is all about them getting back

to New York City This entire film franchise though

the overall plotline to me feels like a an old

Wally Gator short where Wally Some some some

animal rights activists release him into the

swamp and he doesn't like it because he's so

used to being pampered at his zoo And then at

the end the animals or the the crocodiles that

he he ran into in the wild but his relatives

They all come back to the zoo to live in captivity.

Oh Boy, I don't know Alright, so that's the that's

the overall plot of the franchise. Do you have

any interest in seeing the third one at all?

I Do just to wrap up the series, but I don't

honestly care But I will eventually see it at

some point. Yeah. I'm the same way. I can wait

till it hits DVD or hell if it even hits on TV.

Let's talk about the voice cast for these films.

In the first film, throughout the three films,

you pretty much have the four main characters

constantly. You got Ben Stiller. Chris Rock,

Jada Pinkett Smith, and David Schwimmer voicing

Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman. What are your

thoughts on the four main characters as far as

the voice actors go? I think they fit it pretty

well. I like what they did with the characters.

I think that in some regards they kind of fit

their persona of their voice actor. But I think

they did pretty well and they got a nice mishmash

of people for that particular unit of friends

in the film. So it's a nice polar opposite difference

between every one of them. For the penguins,

the best part about these films, you've got Tom

McGrath as skipper Christopher Knight as private

or Knights as private Kowalski is Chris Miller

and Rico is John DiMaggio I love those guys I

love the penguins that is my favorite part of

the film series Sasha Baron Cohen as King Julian

I really like Yeah, he sits that really well.

Yeah, Cedric the entertainer as Maurice and then

Randy Richter as Mort. I like those roles as

well. I think the reason why I like those roles

is because I like them in The Penguin's TV show

because that's where I've seen them the most

from. Other ones you got in here, you got...

You got Elise Gabriele playing the old lady,

David P. Smith playing the spider, and David

Calgill playing the police horse. The voice cast

overall doesn't, to my knowledge, just looking

here on BehindTheVoiceActors .com, it doesn't

change that much. If at all. I'm trying to look

down. I mean... They added characters like Fred

Tattishore as a couple of new characters. You

know, stuff like that. But as far as the main

core cast, none of them changed. I don't think

any of them changed throughout the three films.

Overall, the voice acting for the film series

is very well done. Especially when you think

of... When I think of voice acting, I think of

stuff like... Like Mel Blank or you know Dawes

Butler or Don Messick or You know Frank, you

know Frank Walker, I mean Sometimes when I see

these animated movies with these huge stars as

voices there's nothing against those people but

it's like Really that's a character. I don't

just sometimes I get that feeling not really

with these films But with with anything in general

when they go for that celebrity, it's like oh,

okay Yeah, some of them it's kind of an offshoot,

but I mean I've been pleasantly Happy with all

of their their choices in this film Yeah series

Yes You know, I mentioned it before about Madagascar

1. It got mixed reviews from excellent to terrible,

apparently. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a

55 % approval rating based on 178 reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes, Cream of the Crop, 37 % of critics

gave it positive reviews based on 35. The Box

Office, it... Top position us box office in the

following week with the gross of 28 just north

of 28 million Let's see worldwide gross of five

hundred and thirty two million six hundred eight

thousand six hundred seven dollars Hey, if they

can make five hundred million or over five hundred

million. That's all well and good You know anything

that makes its budget back is it is a success?

But people aren't gonna you know not everyone's

gonna like it Madagascar to same thing It made

it made its budget back total gross was 422 so

it dropped about huh? Dropped about a hundred

million from 530 to 422 from the first Wow Wow,

that's that's a little nuts Let me see here for

the third one, what did it get for think is the

third one is still in in theaters, I don't think

it's a Yeah, the total box office numbers for

for the third film aren't Worldwide total of

548 north of 540 and 540 150 whatever So the

third one has made the most money, so maybe the

third one is the best one to watch, I guess.

Yeah, the second one I kind of just didn't care,

but I think that, again, was because it was a

rehash, kind of in a sense of, you know, Lion

King -ish. Yeah. So I guess, I mean, I guess

I can get behind that, not having seen the third

film and just going by what it sounds like. Yeah.

I mean, it... It looks really interesting. It

looks like a cool plot. They're going home to

the Central Park Zoo, and that's all well and

good. But again, for me, the whole media blitz

thing, just kind of like, eh, I'll wait. It's

not like... Like, Pixar movies... Well, most

Pixar movies. Most Pixar movies for me are go

to the theater and see them. Obviously, Disney's

Wreck -It Ralph will be go to the theater and

see it. Oh, yeah. You know, stuff like that.

Yes, I have seen other DreamWorks films and theaters

like Shrek 1 and 2 and stuff like that, but the

rest of it, it's so far to this point in this

season of Tooncast Beyond, it's been, I'll just

wait till it hits DVD or if it comes on TV or

whatever. So as far as the IGN crew, I'm going

to give it a three. It's worth a watch on Netflix

as far as the entire franchise. I don't think

for me personally that these are films I would

have in my DVD collection. I just didn't get

connected with them at all. What about you? I

would say a high three because I could watch

Pixar films before I could watch DreamWorks.

But I would also say because I like the series

overall. There's there's a lot of good funny

points in it. I mean even looking at the monkeys

that You know, you've got kind of like almost

a Muppets reference. Yeah Yeah, it was pretty

funny Yeah, and as I've stated they are all on

DVD you can find them on DVD and and digital

media as well We're gonna take a quick break

and then we'll come back with our final words.

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back and... Final thoughts on the franchise for

Madagascar? My final thoughts? Yes. That would

be definitely worth a watch. If nothing else,

watch it just for the sheer fun of it and the

voice cast because there's all kinds of goofy

antics going on. Even if the story doesn't fully

pull you, there's plenty of other stuff to keep

you entertained. Yeah, that's true. That's true.

I will agree to that. We didn't really touch

on it earlier, but I will take this time now

to say that I did like the animation style, but

again, I'm... I don't know. I'm more so interested

in the human stories versus the animal stories.

I know that may sound weird, but I can watch

Shrek because ogres are technically giant green

humans. Yeah. It's one of those things where

I can watch those animated films that have humans

and animals mixed in. You know outside of like

a lot of the Disney stuff like Did Disney stuff?

I'm not counting this. I'm just talking about

the DreamWorks stuff I just can't get into it

With this franchise outside of outside of the

penguins. I don't know why I don't know So that's

it you got anything you want to pimp out before

we close out this week um Not really Now you

were listening Joining us here on to cast beyond

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