I like to move it, move it…

Madagascar. This is my favorite pair of animated movies. And now my 3 year old daughter has discovered them – which means I get to watch either or both movies again, maybe twice daily!!!

King Julian (in the voice of Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Ali G aka Borat) has got to be the most outstanding animated character in recent memory. Completely nuts, with a wickedly delicious “Older Indian in the UK” accent – he is the Craziest:) My personal best – “Hurry before we all come to our senses” and “oh…so putting a giraffe in a volcano to make water is suddenly madness”.

I had always wondered how you top The Lion King. Filled with all the drama of loss, revenge and the return of the King, it is the best, the perfect Lion movie of all time. Madagascar is totally not…and doesn’t even bother trying. The scene where Alex (Ben Stiller) tells Marty (Chris Rock) ” you know Marty, lions don’t dance” to which Marty responds, “What??!!!” really sums up the anarchist take this movie has on children’s animated features. 

“Smile and wave boys, smile and wave”, “Moto Moto…the name’s so nice, you have to say it twice”, “Maurice, I have a cunnnnnning plan”…It’s never goody two shoes, ever…lots of adult subtext and lunatic dialogue:) 

The four Nu Yorkers (that’s how it’s pronounced) – Alex, Marty, Gloria, Melman – are completely life-like…when they come into contact with their “roots”, their comeback is so city-slicker Nu York. And while all the rest of the cast are the types you’d expect to find in such a movie (except perhaps the penguins), King Julian stands out as the unique product of the insane imagination of some totally crazed genius…never before, and probably never again. Respek!