Things Only Adults Notice In The Madagascar Film Franchise

If children's pop culture is to be believed, all animals are friends — including all the animals in "Madagascar." The film's core cast includes a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a hippo who happen to live at the same zoo and have formed lifelong friendships as a result. This is something adults are well aware is simply ridiculous, a product of kids' entertainment we all just go with despite its inaccuracy.

The reality is Alex the lion would be more likely to eat Marty the zebra than befriend him. This is a fact the first movie in the series plays with when the animals get stranded on the titular island nation and Marty starts to looks increasingly delicious to a very hungry Alex. Friendship and civility win out in the end in "Madagascar," but real wild animals aren't concerned with such things, which means in real life, the moment Alex got hungry, Marty would be a goner.

When Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe, and Gloria the hippo find themselves on Madagascar, they encounter predators called fossa and a large kingdom of lemurs that's led by the ridiculous King Julien. The movie doesn't put a fine point on it, but many adults will realize these are mammals native to Madagascar that don't live anywhere else in the world. King Julien and his followers are terrified of the fossa, a fear inspired by the real-life predator-prey relationship between these animals. That's right — in the wild, lemurs make up a majority of the fossas' diet. The film's also accurate in portraying the many, many species of lemur. King Julien is a ring-tailed lemur, which is perhaps the most well-known of the over 100 species of these primates that live on Madagascar. That's a lot of lemurs!

On the other hand, there's quite a bit the movie overlooks, including the fact that over one-third of lemurs are critically endangered. While "Madagascar" the movie makes the island nation look like a wilderness paradise where lemurs' only issue is the deadly fossa, in reality millions of people live there, leading to issues like hunting and deforestation, which are more lethal to lemurs than the fossa could ever be. Still, the movie is a great way for adults to introduce kids to these unusual animals and start a conversation about them.

Kids adore the madcap King Julien, but Sacha Baron Cohen's choice to give the goofy lemur an Indian accent would be considered deeply inappropriate today. While no one seemed to pay too much attention to Baron Cohen's accented voice work when the first movie hit theaters in 2005, recently there's been a movement in pop culture to ensure non-white characters are played by actors of color. One prominent example is Hank Azaria stepping down from voicing the role of Apu on "The Simpsons." Given Baron Cohen is white, his decision to use an Indian accent as a vehicle to make King Julien funnier comes across as racially insensitive.

Of course, it also makes no sense given that Madagascar is an island off the coast of Africa, so there is absolutely no reason for King Julien to have an Indian accent. By "Madagascar" co-director Tom McGrath's own admission, the filmmakers found Baron Cohen's Indian-accented take on the character hilarious and actually increased the size of the role because of it. Looking back, though, adults will see that choice as questionable, if not downright inappropriate, even as the kids continue to laugh at the character's zany antics.

The animals from the Central Park Zoo exemplify stereotypes about native New Yorkers. This is especially the case for Alex, who thinks New York City is the greatest place in the world. He even prefers the city sounds of traffic and sirens to the "wild" ambient noise piped in by the zoo. And no one is more devastated to be shipped away from the City than Alex, especially when the animals land on Madagascar and mistake it for San Diego. Like many a native New Yorker, Alex despises California, so in his mind, no place could be worse than San Diego, which he mocks for what he assumes will be its hippie culture.

Meanwhile, when he divides the beach of Madagascar between himself and Marty, Alex declares Marty's half the "Jersey side," yet another acknowledgement of New Yorkers' opinions about places other than their hometown. By the time "Madagascar 3" rolls around and Alex and his friends still haven't made it back to New York, Alex is achingly home sick. To ease his pain, Marty, Gloria, and Melman make him a miniature replica of the city, which only makes Alex more determined to return. And while kids in the audience will identify with Alex's attachment to his home, adults will recognize the way the animals' attitudes send up city dwellers, including Alex's declaration that he doesn't drive because he's "a New Yorker."

From "Cast Away" to "American Beauty" to "Saturday Night Fever," the "Madagascar" series contains a ton of movie references that adults will enjoy. But since almost all of them are nods to older movies and movies that aren't for kids, they will likely go right over children's heads.

Nonetheless, some of these bits are still funny whether you notice the movie reference or not. For example, the first film includes a reference to "Planet of the Apes." As Alex's replica of the Statue of Liberty burns to the ground, leaving only part of its upper body poking out of the sand, Alex yells, "You maniac!" in response. While the reference to Charlton Heston's devastating discovery at the end of the 1968 movie makes for a funny moment, kids who've never even heard of "Planet of the Apes" are likely to laugh right along at Alex's exaggerated response.

Similarly, early in the second movie, when Alex looks out the window of the animals' plane, he sees Mort on the wing and initially mistakes the small lemur for a gremlin. While adults of a certain age will have no trouble recognizing this as a reference to "The Twilight Zone," the scene is still comical enough to elicit a few chuckles whether viewers understand the nod to the classic series or not.

There are some pretty weird moments of sexualization that only grown-ups will notice in the "Madagascar" films, one of which revolves around Alex's devotion to his favorite food: steak. In fact, early in the first film, Alex has a dream about filet — and based on the sweet nothings he mutters in his sleep, his dream is pretty much a sex fantasy. Alex is seen licking and cuddling steak on other occasions too, solidifying his odd fetish for meat.

The franchise also has a strange habit of sexualizing hippo Gloria, the lone female star of the movies. In the first film, she emerges onto the island of Madagascar wearing two strategically placed starfish and a crab to simulate a bikini. Then, in the second film, Gloria enjoys a flirtation with the hulking hippo Moto Moto, but it quickly becomes clear that Moto Moto's only interested in Gloria's body. While Moto Moto is attracted to Gloria's girth, flipping the traditional expectation that men covet women with petite bodies on its head, the movie isn't so much commenting on the objectification of women as playing it for laughs. This may make some adults uncomfortable given changing cultural norms.

One of the main settings of "Madagascar 3" is a circus where the animals all relish the opportunity to perform for people's amusement. For decades (right up through the 2012 release of "Madagascar 3"), circuses were considered a perfectly acceptable form of family entertainment. In reality, though, circuses are terrible for animals, and as awareness has spread since the release of the "Madagascar" threequel, circuses have faced a reckoning about their animal acts.

The issue comes down to the fact that unlike the animals in "Madagascar 3," wild animals who perform in circuses are forced to do so, often with cruel training techniques that include the use of bullhooks, sticks, and whips. If that weren't enough, the nature of these traveling shows means the animals can't follow any of their natural instincts to exercise or interact with other members of their species. The public outcry about this issue has led to the closure of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, as well as bans on wild animals in traveling shows in several countries and American states. So while kids may believe animals enjoy performing in circuses after watching "Madagascar 3," adults will know that in real life, circuses aren't the fun places for animals the movie makes them appear to be. And although this positive portrayal of a fictional circus may make some adults uncomfortable, it's also a good opportunity for parents to educate their children about the cruel realities faced by circus animals.