What happens when you migrate from your homeland to a place where you can only dream of good things to happen. What happens when you find out that your best friend belongs to a country that is considered enemy back home. Those are some of the underlying themes of DreamWorks Animation SKG latest film Madagascar.

The film that stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith is about four friends living side by side at the New York Central Zoo. Each of them have routine lives where they wake up every morning, get washed, have breakfast and amuse kids and adults with their andicts. However, life takes a swift turn after Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock) makes a birthday wish which is to be able to go the Wild. That's where the story begins to unravel and we see a strong bond of friendship emerging between Alex and Marty.

Madagascar is DreamWorks first attempt to make 3D look like 2D. After the eye popping animation in Shrek films and Shark Tale, the studio decided to take a different route and give this film the look of Saturday morning cartoons. Inspired by legendary artists like Chuck Jones (Bugs Bunny), you can't help but love these stretchy and googly characters.

It isn't the animation that stands out in this film but the story and characters which is exactly what the writers, animators and the cast carry out to do. When the story and characters overwhelm you more than the animation, it clearly means that the film has a heart and is a winner. Granted, there is amazing scenery when the animals are stranded on the island of Madagascar but that is not what will get the viewers hooked.

Nevertheless, that doesn't undermine the talent of animators at DreamWorks Animation. They have done a marvellous job in bringing the world of Zoo, New York and Madagascar to the big screen. The detail that went into creating beautiful grass, trees, flowers and the amazing sea sequence is something the should be proud of.

Alex (Ben Stiller) is your ordinary lion who loves his work. Every morning, he puts a show for his human fans and doesn't want to change his life style unlike the adventureous Marty (Chris Rock) who wishes to explore the wild side. The story more or less surrounds their friendship and shows how two different animals, enemies by nature can come together. There is a great chemistry between these two characters. It very much reminded me of Tigger and Rabbit from The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) plays more of a maternal role, always there to resolve the problems between Marty and Alex and coming up with best solution possible. A lot of people might consider that sexist but in my opinion behind every solution there is a hand of a woman. Kids are going to love her.

Melman (David Schwimmer), an obsessive compulsive Girrafe, confused about his identity (doesn't the name suggest that) is one of my favorite characters from the film. No offense to Schwimmer fans but no one could have played this somewhat of a doofest character better than him. Schwimmer is known for roles where he is uncertain about his actions and Melman is exactly that.

Last but not least, the penguins really stole the film for many viewers including myself. Their mission is to hatch a scheme and escape out of the zoo to their homeland...not the wild in this case. The leading penguin who is played by co-director Eric Danell does simply an amazing job voicing him. He reminded me of the guest characters that Phil Hartman potrayed in The Simpsons. Without going much into detail, the funniest moment in film involves the penguins standing and staring at something that only lasts 10 seconds.

This is probably the first feature where I don't remember much from Hans Zimmer's score other than the Vangelis theme from Chariots of Fire. I am not sure if its because the film stood out so much that I didn't notice Zimmer's music or it simply wasn't his best.

As a whole Madagascar is a wild adventure for the whole family with number of adult jokes but not as evident and crude as Shrek 2. It has many references to films like Cast Away and American Beauty which incidently are DreamWorks films.

I strongly recommend everyone to watch this film and if you have kids or nephews and nieces, take them. This film's underlying theme is way more important for us ignorant humans than putting up with a few crude jokes. Jeffrey Katzenberg and team have created a film that will win audiences hearts over the span of this sci-fi and action packed summer.