The Movie Insider

In the highly-anticipated sequel to "Madagascar," Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien, Maurice and the penguins and the chimps find themselves marooned on the distant shores of Madagascar. In the face of this obstacle, the New Yorkers have hatched a plan so crazy it just might work. With military precision, the penguins have repaired an old crashed plane -- sort of. Once aloft, this unlikely crew stays airborne just long enough to make it to the wildest place of all -- the vast plains of Africa, where the members of our zoo-raised crew encounter species of their own kind for the very first time. Africa seems like a great place ... but is it better than their Central Park home?

• "Madagascar" opened on May 27 and generated a domestic box office of approximately $192 million. It continues to perform extremely well internationally, and currently ranks as one of the top five computer-animated movies of all time.
• In addition to the sequel, DreamWorks Animation will be giving the scene-stealing "Madagascar" Penguins the chance to take top billing in a direct-to-video release due out in 2009.