Having seen the first Madagascar move 8 or 9 hundred times, I can tell you that my 2 and 6-year-old daughters were more anxious to see when they'd play the "Move it, Move it" song (I guess I was a little anxious too...). Thankfully it was played very quickly which helped to capture their attention instantly.

I won't go into very many details about the storyline, a previous reviewer on this site does a great job describing what goes on. I'll just focus on whether I think this is worth spending your time and money on.

This is a very well written animated comedy, very similar to the first Madagascar, but there seemed to be a lot of tiny comedic elements thrown in, some for flavor and some in the background, which definitely makes the DVD a must-buy, it was done very well. All of the relevant characters from the first movie are back; the four stars (Alex, Gloria, Melman, Marty), the Penguins, King Julian, and the Monkeys. A few of the main supporting characters from the first movie are also involved. The Penguins and Monkeys almost steal the show, they were fantastic!

Our situation was this; it was my daughter's 6th birthday party, and we decided to take her and a few of her friends and family to the movie. So we wound up with two 2-year-olds (girl,boy), two 6-year-old girls, two 5-year-old girls, and two 9-year-old girls. And for the parents, there was me and my wife, and one other set of parents.

I mention all of that for this reason; we envisioned scenarios where we would be making bathroom trips every 30 seconds, or one girl would poke another or take her popcorn and we would have to promise to buy Disney World to make her stop crying, or the usher would come up and say "Sir, the police would like to speak to you." You know what I mean? But only the 2-year-old boy was irritable (until he got his popcorn). After the "Move it, Move it" music, there was plenty going on in the movie to hold their interest.

My only complaint about the movie was this; it is rated "PG" for a reason. Some parents don't allow their young children to watch "PG" movies, and this would probably fall into that group of movies that toe the line. There were some scenes where I'd hoped that my 6-year-old daughter didn't catch the joke. And there were a few fighting scenes, one which I don't think was appropriate for anyone who prefers that their children don't watch excessive violence. (SPOILER ALERT)
The scene I'm talking about is when Alex fights the old lady with the purse (the one from the first movie). It's a prolonged fist fight with LOTS of face punching, a kick between Alex's legs, and a sly reference to the items that were kicked (if you catch my drift).
If you'd like me to elaborate on anything else I found, please e-mail me at mailto:diontaylor1@hotmail.com (if you do e-mail me, please put "Madagascar Review" in the subject so I can pluck it from my junk mail filter).

Aside from the few things I mentioned above about the "PG" rating, this is a great movie, especially for fans of the first Madagascar. The writing was great, the story was great, the animation was very good, and the movie was long enough without being too long or too short for those with kids. All of the kids loved it; no bickering, conversing, wandering, or fidgety activity during the whole movie, they were totally into it.

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Family Movie
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing