THERE was a time, back around the first “Shrek,” when DreamWorks Anima- tion seemed interested in competing with Pixar to produce sophisticated ‘toons that would appeal as much to adults as to kids.
Now, DreamWorks seems to have jettisoned this goal in favor of lucrative flicks strictly targeted to the knee-high set.
So it is with “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” a by-the-numbers follow-up to the highly successful 2005 feature that was no great shakes to begin with.
Yes, it looks a little better, and moving the action from Manhattan to Africa is probably an improvement.
But it’s not something you’d particularly want to watch with the kids. And even some of them seemed restless at the screening I attended.
Stranded in Madagascar at the end of the last film, the gang from the Central Park Zoo – Alex the dancing lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the wisecracking zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the lovelorn hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) – are trying to get home on a plane that’s been shakily rehabbed by the penguins.
This gets them only as far as the African nature preserve from which Alex was stolen, reuniting him with his dad (the late Bernie Mac) and his mom (Sherri Shepherd).
But in a twist on “The Lion King,” dad’s rival (Alec Baldwin) insists that Alex perform a belated fertility ritual. It ends badly when Alex cops some moves from “West Side Story” and the whole family is banished from the preserve.
There are several other subplots involving a drought; a romantic triangle between Melman, Gloria and a hunky hippo (will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas); and a tough old lady from Brooklyn (Elisa Gabrielli) who frustrates the penguins’ efforts to get the plane airborne again.
The best moments arguably belong to Sacha Baron Cohen, who is allowed time to camp it up mercilessly as King Julien the Lemur.
Personally, I’d wait for the DVD and use “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” as an electronic baby sitter. But do what you have to do.
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA
Second verse, same as the first.
Running time: 88 minutes. Rated PG (mild crude humor). At the Empire, the Union Square, the Lincoln Square IMAX, others.