Reviews: Madagascar 2 & Role Models

Into the Wild

I still say that the DreamWorks animation department has little to offer in terms of the advancement of animated films. I will relent that the Pixar standard is a very hard thing to live up to, but ever since Shrek 2, I have witnessed all their films morph into pop culture ridden pieces that do not really fulfill the laughter of children and fall flat with adults. After their abysmal failure with Shrek the Third, which I thought was the worst film of 2007, they bounced back this year with Kung Fu Panda, a delightful surprise that not only made me laugh at jokes that were contained inside the actual story (not borrowing like Shrek and Shark Tale did) and also had a meaningful story behind it. In the sequel to their (unexpected) mega-hit, Madagascar 2 strives a little better than its predecessor, but I feel still falls short in becoming something recommendable.

The movie's events start exactly where the first adventure ended, with Alex the arrogant lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the smart talking zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the sassy hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (David Schwimmer) trying to escape the island Madagascar in order to return to their New York home. After a shoddy plane captained by the penguins (the best part of the first film) crashes, the group discovers more of their kind in the inland parts of Africa. Here, Alex discovers his father (Bernie Mac) who is the king of their herd. A sort of silly conflict arises when rival lion Makunga (Alec Baldwin) plans to take control over the herd and become the new alpha lion.

The film is a little better than the first one only because of the element involving Alex and his father. Part of this might just be the circumstances surrounding the actor who voices the elder lion, but it is still something the original film did not have. It's a part of the story that is the most emotionally involved, and it pulls the audience along to watch something that is more than just the jokes. A father-son relationship isn't stretching in terms of complexity, but it's a lot more than previously tried for these types of films. At the same time, that tender part of the story is overwhelmed by a ridiculous villain (not the good kind of ridiculous) whose ambitions are not really noteworthy. The film also antagonizes the old lady from the first film ("Bad kitty") and gives her a much bigger role than I thought necessary. And still, these movies continue with the pop culture references that go way above the kids heads. A second Planet of the Apes joke was admittedly funny, and a scene with monkey workers striking and the penguins calling the unionization communist was something I indeed had to smile about. However, when their are joking references being made to the war in Iraq, no matter how funny they are, do not belong in this film (and it is in this film).

After making me smile with Tropic Thunder (Robert Downey Jr. made me laugh), Stiller has put in a pay check role for this rather bland character. The same could be said of all the returning leads for that matter as none of them really elevate the characters more than the first time. It even seems like Sacha Baron Cohen, as the cooky King Julian, seems to have suffered the Johnny Depp-Pirates syndrome as his character seems more forced than nuanced like it did before. Not even Alec Baldwin can save his character from the carelessness of the story. The only one that really resonates is Mac, and it is unfortunately influenced by his passing last August. Just hearing one of the last times he ever spoke is something to marvel at, even if the material isn't working, and it makes you sad to know that voice will never be heard again in the future.

To be honest, I really hated the first Madagascar. I felt it was a flimsy excuse to get a bunch of A-list actors and put their names on a product. But no matter how I felt about it, it worked, and the movie made tons of dough that nobody expected it to. This effort tries a little better, but it is still bogged down by a weak story and pop culture references. In the end, I look back to an analogy that I made about Fantastic Four 2 in relation to its predecessor: "It's like saying a stub toe is better than a broken foot. It's a little more tolerable, but in the end, you still in pain." **1/2 / ****; GRADE: B-





Parental Guidance Restricted

The days when people thought that a comedy that people could take great offense with would be a sign of death are long gone. There are many people who contributed, but the most prolific would be Judd Apatow. His directorial debut of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and subsequent line of producing, has made the edgy, R-rated comedies something to be greatly desired. With many of the players involved in this film, one would think that Apatow is behind this project as well. Those who assume that are mistaken. I'm reminded of Charade, which looked like an Alfred Hitchcock film, even starring Cary Grant, but was not one of his films. The same comparison can be said of this film to Apatow, only this one is not nearly as good as Charade was.

Paul Rudd, of the Apatow stock players, and Seann William Scott play Danny and Wheeler, two middle aged men who go around schools to sell their energy drinks and preach a message of drug abstinence. Danny is the emotionally distraught and dysfunctional one and Wheeler is the developmentally arrested, immature adult (as is always the case). After Danny's attorney girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks, very popular this year) breaks up with him, Danny drives the advertising car with Wheeler onto a school's prolific property. The two are given a choice of thirty days in jail or 150 hours of community service at a mentoring program. For the sake of the plot, they decide to take the latter.

Upon their arrival, they are in a constant word battle with the program's director (Jany Lynch), who keeps bringing up her racy past, and the situations with their assigned kids aren't go well either (go figure). Danny is paired up with Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, aka McLovin), an older, heavily anti-social boy who has a fascination with a fantasy role playing game within his own community that operates like a live action World of Warcraft. Wheeler's kid is Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson, a long way from That's So Raven), a foul mouthed, rude little brat that tests the patience of everyone around him. Do you think these two guys will warm up to their little counterparts and start to respect them?

That's a stupid question because it has an obvious answer. Of course these two guys will learn to like the kids their with. They'll first start off despising them, then they'll do something that causes tension and phrases like "I never want to see you again" being thrown around until they make a final chance to rekindle the relationship and it works. The story doesn't really reach for new territory. Director David Wain knows about comedy (Wet Hot American Summer), but there are many times when the comedy feels uneven by the editing pace. The comedy itself within the dialogue is not much either, as a lot of it is either constant profanities or numerous double entendres that have Rudd wincing. It's funny the first time, but by the end it's time to hang up the gag. It becomes so bad, that you'd almost expect Steve Carell to walk by the frame and mutter, "That's what she said."

I've always believed that Paul Rudd is a greatly talented performer, and after supporting roles in films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Reno 911!: Miami, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I thought he was more than qualified to carry a film as a leading man. This film does prove it, but Rudd tries desperately to work with unusable material. I give credit to him for trying and hope that a future project will help enhance his talent instead of enable it. Scott is okay, but it's the same type of character he has been playing since American Pie. Also, I think this is the perfect evidence to invite Elizabeth Banks into permanent residence for the all-boys club that is the Apatow stock players.

Now, I realize that this is only Mintz-Plasse's second film, but the character feels like McLovin-lite, a watered down version of a character already seen too much of. A lot of people think that seeing a child the way Thompson portrays him is a despicable act. I don't have a huge problem with it, I only ask the kid be cute as well. Not in the physical sense, but in the way that what they say may be obscene for a child, but is funny if an adult said it. Suffice it to say, the script does not have Ronnie become that cute. I do, however, give up a lot to Lynch, for even when she's poking at the material for it to move, she still delivers a few laughs.

What I found to be the funniest part of the movie actually has nothing to do with its theme of connection and discovering friends. It's an extended battle sequence in which the two adults and two kids participate in that is part of Augie's made up fantasy world. The fake deaths, attention to accurate dialect and nicely staged fight scenes make the sequence feel real, and it is really a marvel at how that is done. It's also the point where Lynch's frankness about her past finally becomes funny. Unfortunately, it's not enough to save it. Despite the best efforts from some members of the cast, the movie ultimately disappoints. I still hold out hope for Rudd, and I ask Apatow to throw Rudd a bone soon. **1/2 / ****; GRADE: C+