TV Show Info
TV Show Name: Merry Madagascar
Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Genre(s): Animated/Comedy/Seasonal
Release Date(s): November 17, 2009
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
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Alex (voiced by Ben Stiller), Melman (voiced by David Schwimmer), Mary (voiced by Chris Rock), and Gloria (voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith) are trying to get back to New York for the holidays, but their plans are cut short when the lemur King Julien (voiced by Danny Jacobs) shoots them down in his attempt to stop the “Red Night Goblin” who visits yearly. When the Red Night Goblin is shot down, Alex, Melman, Mary, and Gloria discover it is Santa Claus (voiced by Carl Reiner) and learn he has amnesia. Now it is up to the animals to make Santa’s deliveries and save Christmas while Santa tries to change Julian’s view of the holiday.
Damn, girl…you lookin’ fine
Directed by David Soren, Merry Madagascar takes the popular Madagascar films and brought the popular characters to air on November 17, 2009 on NBC. The special was met with positive reviews.
The story for this holiday episode is very simple (and quite typical). It follows the whole “Santa’s gone, let the stars step in his place”. This has been used in other movies including the obvious one The Santa Clause. This is always a good holiday format but often feels tiring. It works here with four animals (plus the deer/penguins) a bit different than just having one character. I also enjoy the Santa antics with King Julien.
Hey Red Man…This is my day!!!
The art for the special matches the art of the movies. That is the amazing thing about computer animated art is that it is easier to recreate the art for specials like this. Often for TV versions of big screen films, the art gets dumbed down (see most Disney straight-to-DVD for an example). Here the art mostly maintains the look and feel of what made the movies popular (along with getting most of the voice actors back).
Merry Madagascar, like Shrek the Halls, is fun for fans of the movies. The quality of Christmas shows has increased, but even the big budget look of some of the films doesn’t have the real feel of some of the classic older shows. I didn’t mind Merry Madagascar, but real fans of the film should check it out.
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