Madagascar

Madagascar (Full Screen Edition)

Taking the kid-friendly concept to a new level, DreamWorks' DVD release of Madagascar features more than 100 interactive games and creative activities. DVD extras for the zoo-breakout cartoon include a virtual tour of Madagascar, a montage of technical goofs and various behind-the-scenes features and documentaries. But the real highlight is a menu option that takes kids to a virtual playground in which they can play various games, learn to draw the film's characters, play a new version of "Whack-A-Mole" and print iron-ons, download photo frames and create personalized invitations, decorations and posters.

Madagascar (Widescreen Edition)

A pack of not-so-wild animals experience some serious culture shock when they move from the Big Apple to the Mighty Jungle in this computer- animated comedy. Alex (voice of Ben Stiller) is a lion who enjoys a charmed life as one of the leading attractions at a zoo in New York City's Central Park. While Alex and his pals Marty the Zebra (voice of Chris Rock), Gloria the Hippo (voice of Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (voice of David Schwimmer) are happy with their lot in life, they occasionally have a certain curiosity about the outside world, and when the zoo's penguins decide to make a break for it, Marty follows them into the city. Alex, Gloria, and Melman set out to find Marty before he gets into trouble, but they're a bit too late, and soon the zookeepers have decided that the animals are restless and need to be returned to the wild. Soon the critters find themselves living on the coast of Madagascar, where they quickly discover they aren't quite suited for living in the wild. Madagascar also features the voice talents of Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, and Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G).

Madagascar Widescreen DVD

The friendship between a New York City lion and zebra is tested when fate brings them out to the unforgiving wilderness in this computer- animated DreamWorks feature. Chris Rock does the voice of Marty the Zebra whose longing to explore beyond his cushy Central Park Zoo boundaries is the impetus that ultimately strands him and his pals on the shores of savage Madagascar. Marty loves the new edible scenery but his best friend Alex voiced by Ben Stiller the Lion begins to starve since his diet of thick steaks has been cut off and the rump of his friend starts to look mighty tasty. Their other friends a hypochondriac giraffe David Schwimmer and a sassy hippo Jada Pinkett Smith try their best to think of a solution as the call of the wild slowly turns the starving Alex into Marty's worst nightmare. Meanwhile the hilariously self- aggrandizing King of the Ocelots Sacha Cohen has a plan to use Marty to repel their own carnivore problem. This kid-oriented comedy stays adult-friendly every step of the way thanks to a clever script that mixes New Yorker humor and even some existentialism in with the pratfalls and spit-takes. Jolts of comedic brilliance are supplied by some Arctic-bound escaped con penguins and a couple of literary apes. It's not a musical but classic songs from the likes of Louis Armstrong and Sammy Davis Jr. keep the montages flowing loose and sassy.