PERSPECTIVES (7/18)

A Pirated Movie Review

by Aaron Bennett Presley, esq.

Although freed from French
colonialism in 1960 and found off the South African
coast under Mozambique, I will not be writing about
Madagascar the country. No, I, throughout this article,
will refer to the 2005 release from Dreamworks Animation.

With pictures under their belt like Woody Allen's Antz, Spirit,
Chicken Run, Shrek and Shrek 2 no one expected any
less of the former Disney company for this summer's
hottest animation. I did find something nearly
disturbing in the characterization of the animals in
the forefront of the film and the actors chosen to
enliven said animals...granted these actors prior roles
in Hollywood and the media.

The film tells the story of four Central Park Zoo
animals who have spent their lives in idyllic
captivity and are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa,
only to get shipwrecked and end up on the island of
Madagascar. The voices of Ben Stiller, Jada
Pinkett-Smith, Chris Rock and David Schwimmer are
featured to give life to these computer-generated
drawings. Other voices include Andy Richter (Ron
Ronnie Run and UCB), Sacha Baron Cohen (Da Ali G Show),
and Cedric the Entertainer (Kings of Comedy). Many of
these "actors," right off the bat, spring to mind a
ridiculous amount of sultry film roles and shaky
pasts.

Alex the lion was born in Central Park Zoo and into a
life of privilege. He is a star, an entertainer to
visitors and, in his mind, the king of his empire--
the zoo he has never left. His best friends are Marty,
Melman and Gloria. Our Alex is voiced by Ben Stiller--the
same Ben Stiller who tortured overweight adolescent
campers as Tony Perkins in 1995's Heavy Weights.
You might remember seeing the infant-neglecting
Stiller's major, dark side heroin addict, role in 1998's
Permanent Midnight. If that's not enough for you,
maybe you should head down to your local Blockbuster
to rent, if you dare, a film by the title "There's Something
About Mary." In this eye-covering flick you will surely be
inundated with pill-popping geriatrics, psychotic stalkers
and copious "humor" about such things as masturbation
and genital mutilation. These are only a couple of films under
Ben Stiller's belt, some too low-blowing to mention.

I move now to the Zebra, an animal most children
should be able to identify with. Marty the zebra is a
idealist and an adventurer, who constantly dreams
about getting to the wild. He wonders what life would
be like beyond the zoo's walls. One night, following
the successful escape of some other animals, he and
all his friends find out exactly what life on the
outside is like. Marty is played by, none other than,
the great African-American racist, Chris Rock.

With get-back roles ranging from parodied blaxsploitation
films to militant Black Panther acting to returning to Earth as
the missing black apostle and loan shark to Jesus,
Rock has carved his stardom from the bleak expense of
stereotypes at what some might call an extremely
separatist angle. Chris Rock's standup routines, such
as the DVD release of "Bigger and Blacker," are filled
with the foulest of language and unswervingly harsh
monologue. His brief musical career afforded the
release of the lasciviously worded "No Sex in the
Champagne Room."

Melman is a hypochondriac giraffe. Melman was
transferred to the Central Park Zoo as a young adult.
Melman was once a resident of the Bronx Zoo and
because of this believes he is the most cultured of
his animal buddies, the most experienced in his circle
of friends and the leader of the pack. Melman is
backed by, possibly the least disturbing of our
voices, David Schwimmer. Schwimmer, known for his
Ross character on television's "FRIENDS," hasn't quite
yet built the edgy reputation of his cohorts in
Madagascar, but must surely watch his step. With
roles in Neo-Nazi films like Apt Pupil and playing
crooked commanding officers, as he did in HBO's "Band
of Brothers," I believe there is nothing left to say as
to what might be assumed by Schwimmer's personal moral
and principle.

Jada Pinkett-Smith lends her lungs to Gloria the
hippopotamus. Born and raised in the Central Park Zoo,
she is friendly, energetic, and on the cutting edge of
style and latest fads. With ghetto gangster-glorifying
roles in films like "Menace II Society" and "Low Down
Dirty Shame," Pinkett-Smith surely produces a positive
young woman theme. Her role in the blackface Spike Lee
joint Bamboozled is nothing too pressing to speak of.
Gloria, our hippo, is the good-looking animal of the foursome.
With this attribute Gloria knows how to get what she wants, and
does. Using your looks and physical attributes
(tongue-in-cheek) couldn't, at all, set any kind of
example for the young girls watching in the audience.
Could it?

That is the exact point I am getting to with this
rant. What are we supposed to tell our children when
they grow up to realize the loving voice coming from
their favorite movie friend, Marty, is the same voice
spouting "F-this" and "F-that," and has the same
views of women as some mid-nineties gangster rap
video? What will little Johnny think when he sees Ben
Stiller stab his best friend in the back just to spike
up some "H" in a parked car with his year-old son
looking on?

Chris Rock once said, "If you are a man and you have
a daughter, you have one job in this life: Keep her
off the [stripper] pole!" How are these fathers supposed
to do so with curvy hippos flaunting their goods in
order to exploit a gentleman in company with every
anti-feministic sway and strut possible?

Someone I grew up knowing in film, and had the
pleasure of being in contact with, was Richard Pryor.
Imagine my distress after fondly knowing Richey from
"The Muppets" movie, "Superman III" and "Brewster's Millions"
only to find out he had acts such as "Super Nigger,"
and movies as grating as "Stir Crazy" and "Another You"
and a cocaine habit filling enough to kill an elephant.
I was crushed.

Speaking of such films, imagine if you will the
pairing of my childhood's Willy Wonka with the foul-mouthed
coke-head Pryor. Gene Wilder would never be the same in my
eyes. So will be said of many of the characters of Madagascar.

It is not my prerogative to incite boycott or a ban on Dreamworks
Animation, I leave that up to you. I felt, however, I might voice my
dismay or disgust, rather. Luckily, I wasn't foolish enough to force
this damning film on anyone younger than myself.