Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa/Trivia

Crazy credits, cameos spoilers re-used animation and other trivia about Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

Crazy Credits

 * The penguins kick the fishing boy off the "DreamWorks" logo. (The boy's voice is supplied by Jeffrey Katzenberg, uncredited.)

Cameos

 * Fergie: The hippopotamus who asks if Alex is dancing about a plane crash is voiced by a member of the same hip-hop-R&B group The Black Eyed Peas as Will.i.am who voices Moto Moto.
 * Jeffrey Katzenberg: the assistant CEO of DreamWorks does the voice of the boy knocked off the crescent moon by penguins when the DreamWorks logo comes up.

Spoilers

 * In the first Madagascar (2005), Alex attempts to eat a butterfly whilst being under a savage steak crazed state. In the sequel, during the flashback at the start of the film. Alex as a cub briefly swallows a butterfly before spitting it out again as he's being lured over by the poachers.
 * Marty's scream as the other zebras spit towards him and while the animals head to break the dam in the plane is the same scream that was used in the first film when Alex interrupts his daydream and when Alex while savage bites him on the butt.

Other trivia

 * Jada Pinkett Smith's daughter Willow Smith plays the young Gloria. Ben Stiller's son, Quinn Dempsey Stiller, plays the young Alex.
 * When Alex arrives in NYC as a cub in a crate, the World Trade Center Twin Towers are a visible part of the pre-9/11 NYC skyline.
 * Series trademark: Twilight Zone. Most if not all entries in this series contain an homage to Rod Serling's original The Twilight Zone (1959). In this one, Mort mimics the airplane wing walker from The Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963).
 * Debuted at number one on the U.S. charts with sixty three million dollars, the best for a Dreamworks Animation film outside their Shrek franchise.
 * This is the first Madagascar film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
 * This is the last Madagascar film to air in the 2000s
 * The film's original title was Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape. Many publicity items and memorabilia were made with this title before a late change.
 * The aircraft used in the escape attempt is based on a Lockheed L-10 Electra, similar to one used by Amelia Earhart.
 * A specially-made segment featuring Julien and Private was used as part of a 2008 Comcast Digital Voice commercial.
 * Ville Valo, the lead singer of the Finnish band HIM does the voice for "Moto Moto" in the Finnish version of the movie.
 * David Schwimmer's character dilemma of falling in love with one of his best friends is much like his long running gag in Friends (1994).
 * Laurence Fishburne were considered for the role of Zuba.
 * Alex's family birth-mark is shaped like the continent of Africa, including the island of Madagascar.
 * A specially-made segment featuring Alex, Gloria, Melman, Marty, and the penguins was used as part of a 2008 McDonald's restaurant commercial.
 * The story is mainly inspired by The Lion King (1994), mainly with Makunga's jealousy over Zuba being the Alpha Lion, and taking over that position eventually where he doesn't really do a good job.
 * Ville Valo, the lead singer of the Finnish band HIM does the voice for "Moto Moto" in the Finnish version of the movie.
 * This is the only Madagascar film not to be released in theaters during the summer.
 * This is the first DreamWorks Animation film not to use the "DreamWorks Animation presents" credit, Along with How to Train Your Dragon.
 * Madagascar is the second DreamWorks Animation film to become a franchise, following Shrek.
 * During the flight, King Julien asked for his nuts on a silver platter. A Korean Air executive made headlines when she threw a tantrum on a plane for getting nuts served in a bag, not on a platter.
 * Alex's family birth-mark is shaped like the continent of Africa, including the island of Madagascar.
 * The story is mainly inspired by The Lion King (1994), mainly with Makunga's jealousy over Zuba being the Alpha Lion, and taking over that position eventually where he doesn't really do a good job.
 * Ville Valo, the lead singer of the Finnish band HIM does the voice for "Moto Moto" in the Finnish version of the movie.
 * All of the zebras in the film were voiced by Chris Rock, to go with the fact that they're exactly like Marty, such as with the voice.
 * The Tour Guide in this film is voiced by Phil LaMarr, who also voiced Marty in the Madagascar Video Games.
 * This was the last DreamWorks Animation film to have a full-screen format for its US home release on DVD.
 * 'Moto Moto' means 'Hot Hot' in Swahili.
 * The film's original subtitle was "The Crate Escape," a spoof of The Great Escape (1963). Many publicity items, trailers, sneak peaks, and memorabilia were made with this title before a late change to "Escape 2 Africa."
 * The first Madagascar movie to be released in IMAX.
 * The last DreamWorks Animation film to be featured in a 1:85:1 aspect ratio until Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.
 * The last DreamWorks Animation film to have separate widescreen and pan-and-scan DVD releases; the next films starting with Monsters vs. Aliens would only be presented in widescreen on DVD releases.
 * This was Bernie Mac's last major film role before his death and this film was dedicated to his memory. before his death was dedicated to him.
 * Originally before Makunga was created, Alec Baldwin was going to play himself in Africa where he tricks young movie actors into making his hunting lodge.
 * Some quarters queried the title, arguing that Madagascar already is a part of Africa. This is not actually the case. Madagascar is an autonomous island off the coast of Africa and is not part of the African Union.
 * A specially-made segment featuring Julien and Private was used as part of a 2008 Comcast Digital Voice commercial.
 * In the original script Melman was going to fall in love with a female giraffe named Kiki but the idea was removed and instead replaced with Melman admitting his love for Gloria.
 * Marty had an iPod.
 * A specially-made segment featuring Alex, Gloria, Melman, Marty, and the penguins was used as part of a 2008 McDonald's restaurant commercial.
 * Stock footage from Madagascar.
 * The "I Like Them Chunky" song was used on Discovery Channel's 2010 "Pumpkin Chumpkin" Commercals
 * The newspaper at the beginning of the film with the headline "Lion Cub Fished From Sea" has the date set at Wednesday, 8 April 1972. However, 8 April 1972 was a Saturday.
 * David Schwimmer's character dilemma of falling in love with one of his best friends is much like his long running gag in Friends (1994).
 * Laurence Fishburne were considered for the role of Zuba.
 * Experienced Voice Actor Fred Tatasciore who voiced one of the Poachers at the start of the film, as well as Teetsi and an Elephant, also filled in for Cedric the Entertainer as the voice of Maurice in the Madagascar video games Tatasciore also appeared in the first film as one of the fossas.
 * The average lifespan of a penguin is 6-9 years.
 * When Nana is making her motivational speech to the other New York tourists lost in the jungle, at the end her shadow resembles the Statue of Liberty. She is even holding a flame torch and her handbag looks like a book.
 * The aircraft used in the escape attempt is based on a Lockheed L-10 Electra, similar to one used by Amelia Earhart. the plane also resembles a Mcdonnell Douglas DC3
 * The part where Melman falls in love with Gloria was originally going to happen in the first Madagascar (2005) but was cut for time and bumped back to the sequel.
 * Kowalski's abacus makes its first appearance in the films.
 * The song from this movie, "Time 2 Move It/I Like To Move It", was used in a 2008 Chrysler car commercial.
 * The sequel Madagascar 3 (2012) was confirmed months before this one came out.
 * In the scene where the penguin tells the monkey he'd like to kiss him, the monkey responds "ok, but you're so darn ugly." This is in reference to the original Planet of the Apes where Dr. Zira responds to Taylor's request for a kiss by telling him, "ok, but you're so damn ugly."
 * Series trademark: Twilight Zone. Most if not all entries in this series contain an homage to Rod Serling's original The Twilight Zone (1959). In this one, Mort mimics the airplane wing walker from The Twilight Zone: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963).
 * Debuted at number one on the U.S. charts with sixty three million dollars, the best for a Dreamworks Animation film outside their Shrek franchise.
 * The film's original title was Madagascar 2: The Crate Escape. Many publicity items and memorabilia were made with this title before a late change.
 * The aircraft used in the escape attempt is based on a Lockheed L-10 Electra, similar to one used by Amelia Earhart.

Errors

 * The birthmark on Alex's paw appears and disappears between shots.
 * There is a shot in which the monkey is cutting through the middle frame with a grinder, then in the next shot he actually completes the task on the rear one.
 * In the very end of the movie, Alex glances at Marty's butt, which has a bite mark supposedly made by Alex in Madagascar (2005). However, the mark cannot be seen in any other scene that shows Marty's butt, such as the very first one when they are all shaking their butts with the music.
 * In fight between Nana and Alex on the African road, at the end, we see a shot of the bus directly behind them, but after the fight, the old lady walks quite a ways to get to the bus.
 * In the scene where the penguins steal the tour jeep, the tour guide has no gun yet he has one when the humans pick up the old lady after the penguins leave with the jeep.
 * When they ram the dam, you can clearly see Nana's purse fly into the water and go down with the dam, but they later give it to Makunga.
 * At the beginning of the film when the zoo-keeper places Alex on the newspapers on top of a stone table where Alex performs, the newspaper disappears moments later.
 * The birth mark on Alex's paw was never seen in the first film.
 * After Nana beats up Alex on the road, she gets back on the tour jeep and it drives away. Alex picks up her purse, dumps it out and drops it on the ground. Later, after the penguins hijack the jeep and drive over Nana, her fellow tourist says "Lady, I found your pocketbook," and returns it to her, when they were obviously a lot farther down the road from the initial Alex and Nana fight location.
 * When Kowalski says, "Only two passengers unaccounted for, sir." after the plane crash, he is referring to King Julien and Maurice, who flew out the side door earlier.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs

 * The title, "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," might appear to be misleading since Madagascar can be considered part of the African continent. However, whether Madagascar is strictly part of Africa is perhaps geographically debatable, and certainly politically debatable. Technically, Madagascar is an island east of Africa. Politically, there is no pan-African government, and attempts to have Madagascar integrated into the African Union have historically been abortive. Furthermore, considering the various botched plans involved in the plot, the filmmakers undoubtedly intended the subtitle "Escape 2 Africa" to be somewhat ironic.

Anachronisms

 * The newspaper headline showing Alex being rescued from his crate is dated 'April 8, 1972', yet World Trade Center 2 was not completed until 1973. This would also put Alex's current age at around 36.
 * At the beginning of the first film, Marty celebrates his 10th birthday, which would put his birth year at late 1990s. However, in the second film, it is shown that Marty is already at the Central Park Zoo (as a colt) when Alex arrives in 1972. ( WTC has been around since 1971 but the ribbon wasn't cut to present it to the public till 1973)

Behind the Scenes

 * The plot of Makunga using Alex to become alpha lion and then things going bad while Makunga is alpha lion and then Alex having to do something to fix it is similar to a plot in Disney's The Lion King where Scar uses Simba to kill Mufasa and become king, then things going bad meaning Simba has to do something about it.