Pixar is known for making fabulous movies, there’s no doubt about that.  However, Madagascar was not one of their strongest titles, and they recently released a Blu-ray version of the film.  If you didn’t already know, the film is centered on four spoiled zoo animals enjoy the comforts and attention of many New Yorkers.  Marty, the zebra voiced by Chris Rock, decides he wants to leave the zoo and be free- he wants to live in the “wild.”  You see, each year on his birthday, Marty falls into a deep depression and longs for the thrill of wilderness.  On his tenth birthday, he learns of a devious plan by a quartet of penguins to escape the Central Park Zoo and pursue the freedom that has thus far evaded them.  Since all of this happens in the first ten or twelve minutes, the movie gets cooking fairly fast.  The other animals wake up to see Marty’s cage empty and they all sneak out to find him at the train station.

Once captured, the animals (voiced by Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith) are put aboard a shipping boat and headed for another zoo.  Since these lovable animals just can’t stand the idea of captivity, they rock and roll their way off the boat and into the surrounding ocean.  A short while later, they end up shipwrecked on the beautiful island of Madagascar.  From here, we really get a true sense of the characters in the film, and they are all pretty unique. Once on the island, the animals meet with a group of lemurs, led by the “king” and his sidekick (voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen and Cedric the Entertainer).  The lemurs feel that these new animals are there to protect them from the evil creatures inhabiting the island and constantly attempting to feast on their young.  This sets up an interesting dynamic, because though the lemurs aren’t particularly fond of Alex (the lion) and his friends, they feel that they are necessary for their survival.

Even though the movie is a few years old, I am still not impressed with the overall attention to character detail.  It’s hard to believe that this is the same team that created and mastered the Shrek franchise.  Even though this film is animation, I still had trouble believing it for some reason.   The movie is set on a tropical island, but I never found myself getting completely lost in its beauty and environment.   The most important thing however is the dialogue itself which is also mostly unimpressive.  Don’t get me wrong, this is a movie for children- but almost every other Pixar film has some jokes that will appeal to adults.  The writing in this movie was just too cliché and cheesy for me- but maybe I am being too hard on DreamWorks.

Usually, a high-def version of a film comes with several bonus features not found on the standard version.  In Madagascar, this is unfortunately not the case- just about every special feature is recycled from the two year old DVD version.  Though they look nicer in 1080p, they are still old and don’t add anything new or fresh to the title.  The lone addition is a trivia pop-up that feels fun, yet tacked-on.   Overall, I was disappointed with the title because the standard DVD two years ago felt packed with special features, while this fell majorly short.

Overall, if you love this movie and feel that you must own it on high-def, check this out.  I can’t whole heartedly recommend it because I don’t feel the need to repurchase a DVD you have bought two years ago.   Though the film is fun, there is no need to buy it again, and this Blu-ray version should honestly, though sadly be overlooked.

Film Rating: B-

Special Features: C (nothing new)