What do you get when you cross a neurotic giraffe, a hippo with attitude, a self-centered lion and a daydreaming zebra? Sadly, a mediocre and predictable 2 hour excuse to release a CGI movie in 2005. Madagascar drops a few names at the expense of a fish-out-of-water story filled with animal-cliches and pop-humor.

An un-apollagetically dull Chris Rock voices Marty, a zebra living in the Central Park Zoo who longs for more than the silver-spoon life he's been handed. When his friends throw him a 10th birthday party, he decides it's time to break out and see the world. His best friend Alex the lion, voiced by Ben Stiller, is the local celebrity and can't understand where his striped friend is coming from. Regardless, he leads the remainder of the foursome, Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) to find their pal and set him straight. Unfortunately, their jaunt into New York is taken the wrong way by those pesky humans and they are shipped off, along with 4 penguins and a couple of chimps, to a wildlife preserve across the ocean. The ship encounters some mishaps and the crates fall overboard, only to wash up on shore somewhere in Madagascar. Hijinx ensue.

I won't say the film is all bad. I will admit that the character design of the animals is certainly unique, certainly not you regular disney fair. The characters have an angular, sharp edged look. The environments are colorful and serve to fit the story. A brief scene in particular pits the black and white Marty in the foreground of an active and busseling Times Square. Beyond the visuals though, the film plays out one bad childrens joke after another. Save for a few chuckles at chimpanzee poo-flinging jokes and the amusing penguin chain-gang, Madagascar may leave you itching to wash its taste out with Finding Nemo or Shrek from your DVD collection.

If you've got a gaggle of the younger set, they might enjoy the colors and the goofy animated faces of Schwimmer's giraffe, but if you're only reason for seeing it is that you're either a big Ben Stiller fan (gawd, why?) or a Chris Rock fan, then pass. I'm gonna say to skip the DVD too, which will undoubtedly hit shelves sooner, rather than later.