Madagascar (2005) Critic Reviews

Antic, cute, scattershot, it's a remarkable-looking but terribly uncertain bit of CGI fluff, with its richest humor off to the sides of the action and a whole lot of average in the middle.Read the full review

Madagascar is funny, especially at the beginning, and good-looking in a retro cartoon way, but in a world where the stakes have been raised by "Finding Nemo," "Shrek" and "The Incredibles," it's a throwback to a more conventional kind of animated entertainment. It'll be fun for the smaller kids, but there's not much crossover appeal for their parents.Read the full review

Dishes up some very corny jokes, but the images have a brighter-than-life vivacity.Read the full review

Madagascar is a classical gas. It's a good-humored, pleasant confection that has all kinds of relaxed fun bringing computer-animated savvy to the old-fashioned world of Looney Tunes cartoons.Read the full review

Eventually, it had to happen: a computer-animated dud.Read the full review

Less like "Shrek," meaning hilarious and heartfelt, and more like "Shark Tale," meaning manic and exhausting, Madagascar will keep kids distracted without transporting them to wonderland.Read the full review

Madagascar isn't deep and would have no business being deep. But that it keeps one foot in reality is enough to keep us guessing.Read the full review

It's frustrating to see this wonderful-looking, laugh-out-loud funny survival tale fall short of its potential.Read the full review

Madagascar arouses no sense of wonder, except insofar as you wonder, as you watch it, how so much talent, technical skill and money could add up to so little.Read the full review