While the crisp, stylized CG graphics of the first movie are still very much a staple of Madagascar 2, and so are the motley crew of pampered, zoo-raised animals who serve as main characters. But the neurotic comedic style, chock-full of pop-culture references has been toned down a bit for the second part.

Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the rather hip Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the paranoid and hypochondriac Giraffe (David Schwimmer), and round-rumped hippo girl Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) the stereotype-defined gang is are back, and marooned on Madagascar. Using a refitted old plane flown by the very confident and rather insane penguin Skipper (Tom McGrath) aided by sidekicks Kowalski (Chris Miller) and Private (Christopher Knights) to return back to Manhattan central zoo, as they miss home.

They don’t succeed however and crash land in Africa, near Mount Kilimanjaro.

The film from that point takes a very “Lion King” tone as Alex finds his father Zuba, voiced by the late Bernie Mac, and runs afoul of the Scar-themed Makunga (Alec Baldwin) who uses the naïve Alex to further his own political gain.

Not abandoning pop-culture references completely, Alex dons the dance moves of Bob Fosse and Jerome Robbins, which become the film’s primary pop-cult gag. When he dresses for a ceremonial battle, none the wiser to the fact that the battle is for real, part of his war paint is a pair of tragedy-comedy masks. This comic plot device aside, the movie actually develops quite nicely into several directions.

Old favorites from the first Madagascar are back, including the lemur King Julien (voiced by the unmistakable yet unplaceable voice of Sascha Baron Cohen) and his song “I like To Move It.”

Joining screenwriter/directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath this time is co-writer Etan Cohen. There a few improvements on the visual side of things, but it’s mostly more of the same.

The story unfortunately is also more of the same, not as the first, but as every other movie in the American school of animation. Alex has a dream (dancing), some father issues, and a climactic showdown with rival Makunga. Aside from these, there’s a sort of surreal playfulness to the whole flick that somehow reminds of the Jungle Book and Dali at the same time, and lighthearted fun (especially where the delirious penguins and Julien are concerned) is one of the strongpoints of the movie.

In the end the movie is enjoyable and entertaining for both children and adults who’re young at heart, but the humor in the movie isn’t subtle enough to make it a classic. It’s a mainstream comedy through and through, and if you’ve seen the first part, you’ll know what to expect from this one.