What we see first is a snapshot of the past. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa backs up and gives audiences a glimpse of how the famous lion Alex was separated from his family and made his way from the African savannah to the Central Park Zoo. After that, there's a head-spinning recap of the first movie.

When the story starts marching forward again, Alex and his zoo buddies Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippopotamus and Melman the giraffe are stranded, it turns out, in the same place they were at when we last saw them—Madagascar. But with the "help" of some devious penguins, they're getting ready to take off in a decrepit airliner and return to their "real" home, New York City. They don't make it nearly that far.

After a frenetic Mayday moment, the zoo crew—along with new friends King Julian, Maurice and Mort—land violently on the plains of Africa. As chance would have it, they've plopped down right in the middle of the animal reserve that's home to the lion pride led by Alex's dad. It's a strange and emotional reunion for the whole family. Alex can't remember anything about his life before the zoo. Dad (whose name is Zuba) and Mom (who, for some reason, doesn't have a name) have been certain for years that their son was killed by hunters. Suddenly, they're a family again. And Alex isn't the only one who has found a new sense of community and belonging. Marty experiments with living in a herd with hundreds of other zebras. Gloria begins dating a hunky hippo named Moto Moto. And hypochondriac Melman's dream comes true when he's appointed the physician for his new giraffe posse.

Shortly after the joyous lion family reunion, Makunga, the jealous second-lion-on-the-totem-pole, forces Zuba to choose between banishing his son and making him take part in a rite of passage ritual that will put his life in danger. To Zuba, the answer seems simple. His son is a king—the King of New York. Surely it's no problem for Alex to prove his mettle by killing a rival lion. There's only one problem: Alex has never fought anything in his life. OK, maybe two problems: He also thinks the rite of passage is a dance contest.    

:: Review 
The original Madagascar is a mildly funny flick—with a few content issues—that showcases a simple story about the importance of friendship and self-sacrifice. Its successor is also mildly funny, includes a few more content issues and tries to tackle a more complex theme.

Co-director Tom McGrath says that the main thrust of his film is, "Value who you are. You should pursue your dreams, whether you want to be an astronaut or a song-and-dance man or whatever, you should go for it and you should be proud of it. That's the core story. As a kid, you want these things, but you also need validation from your parents. ... If there is any kind of message to take home, I guess that would be it."

If Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa stopped there, I could stop here. But it doesn't quite. Mixed in are bits of animated guidance that tell moviegoers that "love has no boundaries" and "love transcends all differences." What's wrong with that? Nothing. And something. Context is everything, and more often that not the context of a film extends into the world around it. In a culture gradually deciding to embrace any kind of love (homosexual, polyandry and polygamist relationships, cohabitation), this film gives viewers the impression that any kind of love is OK. In fact, it's better than OK. A giraffe can love a hippo. A penguin can love and get married to a wooden toy.

Flashback scenes show us that Alex was "a strange one" from a young age. And they provide a built-in commentary on the film's climactic reconciliation between Zuba and his son, reinforcing the idea that parents need to accept any way in which their children decide to be different, without ever trying to encourage responsible or even moral change.

On one hand, children desperately need to be affirmed and loved by their parents, regardless of any difference or disagreement between them. On the other, it's not true that all kinds of love are grand or all kinds of behavior are great. God places beneficial boundaries around romantic love. And while it's sometimes difficult to express acceptance of a person and give guidance about behavior at the same time, it's essential to try.

In its pell-mell quest to be cool, have fun and embrace vibrant individuality, Madagascar 2 doesn't look for that balance.

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