Four pampered zoo animals get stranded on an island and have to find a way back to their home in New York. Things get hairy when they have to learn to survive on their own after years of living the good life in the zoo.

Following in the big, green footsteps of SHREK, Dreamworks continues their kids-movies-with-adults-in-mind animated films with MADAGASCAR. It features talking animals and that’s about all you need to get kids hooked, so that audience isn’t much trouble. But they go out of their way to get the adults involved, featuring some sly pop culture references and enough jokes that will surely sail over the heads of the little munchkins watching it with you.

Of all the famous voices appearing in the film, I think the funniest one of the bunch was from David Schwimmer. His anxiety ridden giraffe was one of the more consistently funny parts of the film. After I watched MADAGASCAR, I said to myself “the penguins were great, but I know they’re going to be annoying in the sequel”. I say that because after watching the trailer for the sequel, I’m already sick of the penguins.

However concerned I am about the sequel, doesn’t change the fact that the filmmakers had a perfect mixture of main characters and supporting characters in this one. The penguins really were hilarious, but I thank everyone involved for not overusing them. On the negative side, I got sick of Jada’s hippo. She was a little annoying and felt out of place with the other characters.

Video: Widescreen (1.85:1): The film looked beautiful, as all animated films do on Blu-ray. Almost every hair on Alex was distinguishable. This is a great transfer.

Audio: English and French 5.1, Spanish and English 2.0 with English, French and Spanish subtitles: The audio was also outstanding.

Commentary with Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell: These guys keep the track rolling, but they focus a lot on the technical aspects of the film rather than the story or the characters and what they were going for. It’s an okay commentary, but nothing spectacular.

Penguins in a Christmas Caper (12:08): After watching the film, you want more penguin action and this is a good way to get it. It’s a great short film that’s funny and cute. It’s a nice companion piece to the film.

Mad Mishaps (1:30): These are computer animated goofs that are interesting, but they get old quick. That’s a bad thing for a feature that only lasts a minute and a half. I’d be more interested in how the animators fix those mistakes than seeing them made.

Meet the Wild Cast (7:47): The famous cast shows up to talk about their characters and their roles. It’s simple, basic and keeps everything on the surface. I like seeing the actors act out their voices and this gives us a chance to see a little bit of that.

Behind the Crates (23:16): This is a making of featurette that’s fit for TV. It’s a fluff piece designed to get you to watch the film. It has a lot of info, but some of it is rehashed from other featurettes. I found it to be redundant and a little boring.

The tech of Madagascar (4:59): The poor tech guys, they just can’t get much love on home video. This is just a brief overview of what they do and doesn’t go into detail or give you too much information. It’s okay, but nothing too interesting.

Penguin Chat (8:43): The voices of the penguins do a brief commentary over a few of their scenes. This was pretty bad and disappointing considering what they could have accomplished. I’d skip this one.

Enchanted Island (7:50): I wasn’t expecting this, but this is a commercial for the island of Madagascar. It gives you some information on the island and the culture on that island. It seems like an interesting place.

There are also some Previews and some Games

MADAGASCAR is a good time and worth the watch if you haven’t seen it. It’s a must own for families with kids and a recommended rental for those without. There’s no need to upgrade to the blu-ray, but the transfer does look very nice.