Critical response at the Israeli premiere of the film, on November 22, 2008.
Rotten Tomatoes reported that of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of , based on reviews. The website's consensus reads, "
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is an improvement on the original, with more fleshed-out characters, crisper animation and more consistent humor." Another review aggregator,
Metacritic classified the film into the "generally favorable" reviews category with 61/100 approval rating based on 25 reviews, also a bit higher a score than the original. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Michael Phillips of the
Chicago Tribune stated in his review that the film "goes easy on the pop culture jokes, I should clarify: one of the smarter things in the script is how Alex, who digs his
Bob Fosse and
Jerome Robbins dance moves, becomes the film's primary pop-cult gag."
Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3/4 stars and wrote "This is a brighter, more engaging film than the original
Madagascar." John Anderson of
Newsday gave the film 3.5/4 stars and stated "
Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa, the sequel to the enormously successful DreamWorks adventure and a film that hews close to the whole
Lion King/species-as-destiny/self-fulfillment paradigm."
Joe Morgenstern of
The Wall Street Journal wrote: "The roots are shallow, but the sequel is good-natured, high-spirited and perfectly enjoyable if you take it for what it is." Jim Schembri of
The Age gave the film 3.5/5 stars, describing it as a "hugely entertaining, lightning-fast, ceaselessly funny follow-up to the adorable 2005 animated hit", and deemed it one of the best animated films of 2008. Kelly Jane Torrance of
The Washington Times gave the film 3/5 stars, writing that it "might not offer audiences cutting-edge animation or a particularly original story", but added: "It still has a lot going for it, though: foot-tapping music, laughs for young and old and the prodigious talents of Sacha Baron Cohen." Shubra Gupta of
The Indian Express wrote that the film was "as spunky, witty and funny" as its predecessor, and praised the animation and characters, but criticized the story for "[taking] the same course as
The Lion King, with a detour towards
Shrek thrown in." Carrie Rickey of
The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 2/4 stars and wrote: "Take the flat tire that was
Madagascar. Retread it with
The Lion King storyline. Pump it up with air. Now you have
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa."
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian gave the film 2/5 stars, describing it as "a frankly disappointing piece of opportunism, with a non-plot which shamelessly rips off
The Lion King." Anthony Quinn of
The Independent also gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "The visual invention and draughtsmanship are mightily impressive; a shame the drama's a bit of a bore."
Box office On its opening day, the film grossed $17,555,027 from 4,056 theaters with a $4,328 average. It went to be at No. 1 at the box office with $63,106,589 with $15,559 average per theater. As of March 19, 2009, it achieved a gross of $180,010,950 (29.8% of total gross) in the United States and Canada along with a gross of $423,889,404 (70.2%) in other regions adding to a worldwide gross total of $603,900,354.
Accolades ==Music==