YSL.com movie reviewer Eddie Szewczyk of Belleville, Ill., takes a look at the new blockbuster animated feature, "Madagascar." As with other reviews, Eddie attended a special critics' advance showing so YSL.com can cover the film even before it opened to the general public.

"Madagascar" starts summer with fun

By Eddie Szewczyk
(Exclusive to Young Saint Louis.com)

Are you looking for a fun, "lets get the summer started" movie with plenty of great computer animals and hysterically funny one-liners?

Dreamworks production of "Madagascar" could be your passport to one wacky adventure.

Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, our story begins in the Central Park Zoo in New York. There, we find four hopelessly charming and endearing occupants in the Animal Kingdom.

There's Alex the Lion, the Zoo's "mane" attraction who enjoys king of the park status. There's also Melman, a hypochondriacally, but lovable giraffe.

Gloria is a very "hip' hippo who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it.

Then, there's one loveable, pampered but bored with captivity zebra named Marty (Chris Rock)

Marty eventually lets high curiosity for "the great outdoors beyond the zoo gates," get the best of him. He decides to follow a group of rebel penguins in a well-worked escape tunnel.

It had been dug out under the zoo walls with plastic ice cream spoons and Popsicle sticks.

Marty's disappearance is discovered by Melman the Giraffe in the middle of the night.

Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Melman (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pickett Smith) decide they have to form a search and rescue team to find Marty and bring him back to the safety of the Zoo.

As can be expected, things don't go as smoothly as planned. As soon as the group reconnects, the police and animal control arrive with tranquilizer guns and subdue the rebellious renegades.

The foursome finally awakens after a nice, long, tranquilized-induced sleep. They've been crated up in wooden boxes on a ship headed back to the Kenyan Wildlife Preserve where unmanageable animals are sent.

Claustrophobic and in a panic, they somehow manage to rock their crates overboard. They end up washing ashore on the exotic island of Madagascar.

They think all they have to do is find the next available human and

correct this horrible mistake. They set out to follow a distant drumbeat in hopes that this nightmare soon will be behind them.

Ironically, the sounds are coming from a tribal gathering of lemurs, who quickly realize the health benefits of having such big, important friends nearby.

High jinks continue, especially for Alex the Lion, who hasn't eaten a steak for quite some time. His visions of T-bones begin to not only dance in his head but also on the backside of his best friend, Marty, who looks tasty in a dinner sort of way.

Try to catch this movie, kids.

"Madagascar" is a fun, light-hearted animated feature that's sure to please young and old alike.

The animation and graphics are amazing and incredibly lifelike. The story and music have a fun, quick-paced tempo.

And, as if that isn't enough, there's plenty of cute, cuddly, wide-eyed little animals that are sure to tug at your heartstrings.

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