If "Shrek" is the perfect example of a family movie blending elements that appeal simultaneously to kids and adults, "Madagascar" is the breaking of that parent-child bond.
The latest computer-generated cartoon from the "Shrek" makers at DreamWorks looks stunning, but it's an ill-conceived mess that plays like two movies awkwardly spliced together.
In one movie, parents are asked to stand by while the kids are entertained with cute animal tricks and slapstick pratfalls. In the other, the kids will be hushed while the parents are treated to inside jokes.
Here's one:
A monkey at the Central Park Zoo tells his mute friend that author Tom Wolfe will be making an appearance that day at Lincoln Center. The mute monkey asks a question in sign language.
"Of course, we're going to throw poo at him," comes the answer.
Consider the thinking that went into that bit.
Wolfe is famous for dressing like a milkman at a formal ball, and the joke is in the image we are asked to conjure in our minds. Now, kids would undoubtedly laugh if they actually saw a man in a white suit getting pelted with monkey poo, but this scatological suggestion is for Mom and Dad.
"Madagascar" is so New York-centric, it's like local theater. There are mentions of Metro-North, put-downs of New Jersey, even an NFL reference to the Giants.
All this is put into motion by Marty (Chris Rock), a bored zebra at the Central Park Zoo who goes AWOL one night. His mission is to catch a train to the wilds of Connecticut and explore the nature that has escaped his captive existence.
Only when he and his three best friends - gentle lion Alex (Ben Stiller), sensible hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) and hypochondriac giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) - have been freed by animal activists are they headed in the right direction, on a steamer to Africa.
The first half hour or so of "Madagascar" takes place in Manhattan, and locals can appreciate the fine, nearly photorealistic depictions of the Plaza Hotel and other landmarks framing the park, plus interiors of Grand Central Terminal and the subway - where the escaped menagerie freaks out normally unflappable commuters.
But once in Madagascar, the movie becomes a simple, old-fashioned, hyperkinetic cartoon, built around the idea of our pampered wildlife friends struggling to survive in the wild.
This is particularly difficult for the carnivorous Alex, whose growing hunger pains have him hallucinating that his friends - and the colony of friendly lemurs they meet - are raw steaks floating in space.
The most appetizing steak in sight is Marty's rump, which - go ahead and explain this to your kids - would be the meal of choice for Alex's ancestors. Efforts to wean Alex from red meat to sushi may be equally hard for children to grasp, especially those who are fans of "Finding Nemo."
DreamWorks Animation SKG needs to go back to the storyboard and rediscover the key to its run of successes. They can't depend on the visual wonders of CGI, because kids don't pay much attention to the esthetic details and adults have come to expect them as state of the art.
"Madagascar" - and, to a lesser extent, last year's "Shark Tale" - show split personalities, aiming over the heads of kids one moment and under the heads of parents the next.
With the two "Shrek" movies, and "Antz" before them, DreamWorks proved it could compete with Pixar in both visual and storytelling magic. It's in danger of losing that.
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