E-Mail This Article to a Friend MADAGASCAR

Sometimes the line between family fun and cheeky humor gets blurred too far. Shrek wallowed in scatology; this romp about two friends pushed to opposite ends of the food chain gets lost in the jungle of target market greed. Which is no surprise since Madagascar comes from the same DreamWorks Animation factory that churned out Shrek and Shark Tale. The African island of the title, home to lemurs and other oddities, is the accidental dumping point for a lion, a hippo, a giraffe, and an antsy zebra from the pampered keep of the Central Park Zoo. Best friends Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) and Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock) realize they’re predator and prey — can friendship surmount primal instincts? How they get shipwrecked (a SWAT team and penguins who hijack a freighter) is the most amusing part of the tale. But once on the island, the displaced four fall into a lemur orgy, get chased by a pack of ravenous fossa, and watch a duckling get mauled by a croc. In short, Madagascar is a violent place — kids at the screening I attended were crying — and the filmmakers (Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath) layer in lackluster nods to Chariots of Fire, Castaway, and Planet of the Apes that didn’t make them laugh. (80 minutes)