Stylish 'Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa' lacks decent plot

Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippopotamus (Jada Pinkett Smith) are finally ready to leave the exotic island of Madagascar and return to the plush surroundings of New York’s Central Park Zoo.

Boarding a rickety plane with ring-tailed lemur King Julien the 13th (Sacha Baron Cohen), his second-in-command Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer) and the kamikaze penguins — Private, Rico, Skipper and Kowalski — the animals crash-land on the plains of Africa, where Alex is reunited with his long-lost father Zuba (the late Bernie Mac) and doting mother Sherri Shepherd, to the obvious chagrin of Zuba’s sworn rival, Makunga (Alec Baldwin).