Once in Madagascar, the picture centers around the friendship between Alex the Lion, voiced by Ben Stiller (Mystery Men), and Marty the Zebra, voiced by Chris Rock (The Longest Yard), as Alex grows from being the humble fame loving oversized kitten he was in New York to the savage carnivore he now realizes he is.

The picture is nearly non-stop laughs. The humor is so mature and witty, I can't see a lot of kids getting over half the jokes and gags in the picture. The writing of the picture's humor very much resembles a Zucker brothers picture from the 1990s.

What was most adorable was when the movie would spoof other pictures for a laugh, including "American Beauty," where they even used Thomas Newman's music score for that particular scene, the original "Planet of the Apes," and my personal favorite, "The Mission." Yes, they actually found a very clever way to spoof the infamous opening sequence of "The Mission," where Robert DeNiro is falling over a waterfall while strapped to a cross like Christ. I think Brian and I were the only ones laughing, cause I doubt the audience we saw it with recognized the spoof.

Besides Rock and Stiller, the picture also starred the vocal talents of Jada Pinkett-Smith and David Schwimmer, all of which did a great job.

I don't think there was a single reason for me to dislike this picture. It was very adult, and did not resort to toilet humor to get a laugh. I think there was maybe one fart joke, where no one even farted. Even the "Shrek" movies, also released by Dreamworks, was infested with a few childish laughs, but for some reason "Madagascar" decided to spare us and I loved it because of that.

This movie is exactly what "Shark Tale" wanted to be, but failed miserably. THIS picture actually had some original character development, which became an interesting social commentary if you what to over analyze it. I won't go into it though. It's well thought out is all I'll say.

Go see "Madagascar," even if you don't have kids. I think I giggled through the entire picture, and laughed out loud crying for many sequences, especially involving the psycho penguins. The picture is well worth all its summer hype.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?

This is the smartest, funniest movie written since last years Shrek 2. It is very enjoyable movie especially for adults and the parents of children bringing them to the movie. The kids will like it too but for different reasons, it is a family movie and I only have a few problems with but it should be included on your movie viewing list this summer.

There are many entertaining jokes that come at a fast pace and the kids won't get them. Some of the many are jokes pertaining to Hollywood movies and my favorite on is where Alex is lying in a bed of steaks with steaks raining down on him, an obvious play on the movie "American Beauty." They also go after Disney with a Lion king joke. However, these are not the only jokes in the movie. The banter in the movie is quick paced and that allows it to go against the grain of stereotypes. The English speaking monkeys and the gang of psychotic Penguins are well written. Especially the penguins, I was laughing at every second they were on the screen. Mark Burton and Billy Frolick did a great job with the script for this movie, especially considering that this was the debut film for both men. They are both teaming up again to write the script for the movie, "The incredible shrinking man."

If I do have a complaint it is that I don't know if any of the actors that gave their voices to the movie are cut out for voice work. None of the five did a bad job, I just don't think they achieved an individual voice for their character. An example of what I mean is Mike Meyers is Shrek and Eddie Murphy is Donkey. None of the actors in this movie achieved that status. Of this cast, Chris Rock was the best and Schwimmer was the worst.

This movie was a pleasant surprise and quite enjoyable. I highly recommend watching this movie at the movie theater, but bring some tissue because you will laugh yourself to tears.