Back in 2005, DreamWorks Animation, an independent American animation studio, produced the movie „Madagascar,” which hit the theaters on May 27 that same year. The audience then made the acquaintance of four Central Park Zoo animals, Marty the zebra, Alex the lion, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe, who after having lived a life without worries in captivity, were suddenly shipped back to Africa to face the wilderness. Nevertheless, they somehow ended up marooned on the island of Madagascar, striving to find their way back to New York city.

This year, on November 7, the production’s sequel entitled “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” was released, having been produced by the same studio and distributed by Paramount Pictures, a Hollywood-based motion picture production and distribution company.

The animated movie shows Marty, Alex, Gloria and Melman as they board a plane that the penguins (Skipper, Rico, Kowalski and Private), who in the original production are on a perpetual quest to find a way to get back to Antarctica, have managed to start up. Unfortunately, only to plummet down somewhere in Africa, near Mt. Kilimanjaro, instead of their much desired destination Manhattan.

There, Alex the lion, dubbed The King of New York since he was the most popular animal in the Central Park zoo, finds his parents and consequently the plot line revolving around this animated character turns into an initiatic journey from a pampered life at the zoo to one in the wild, which always exacts surviving skills. In a scene that calls to mind „The Lion King” production, his father is challenged by the fiend Makunga, leaving Alex no choice but to step in and eventually save the lion community from the devilish lion.

If Alex thus becomes a prototype of a cultural gap that can only be bridged by the Manhattanite lion who has to mature and search for the untamed in himself, Marty, on the other hand, has to face the fact that he looks exactly the same as the other zebras.

As for Gloria, she also comes into quite a fascinating and always desirable discovery: true love. After she flirts with Moto Moto, a hippo she meets during the unexpected stopover in Africa, Gloria gives in to Melman the giraffe’s affection for her, which only goes to show that love really knows no boundaries.

This is not the only pearl of wisdom „Escape 2 Africa” has to offer its audience, with Alex’s story being a symbol for finding one’s inner self and power to overcome all hardships, while Marty’s revelation that he is no different from other zebras mirrors the strong ties that have to keep a community together, no matter where its members end up scattered.

The sequel was directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, the same two who directed the original movie, as well, while the cast includes Ben Stiller, lending his voice to Alex, Chris Rock (Marty), David Schwimmer (Melman), Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria), the late Bernie Mac, who voices Alex’s father Zuba, Alec Baldwin (Makunga) and Will i Am (Moto Moto).