History WesternAnimation / Madagascar

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: More like "Superpowered ''Wild'' Side". Alex becomes this after spending many hours in the island without [[TrademarkFavoriteFood steak]].

* FunWithAcronyms: "[[OhCrap Oh]] '''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar S]]'''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar ugar]] '''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar H]]'''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar oney]] '''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar I]]'''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar ce]] '''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar T]]'''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar ea!]]"

''Madagascar'' is an American 2005 [[AllCGICartoon computer-animated comedy]] produced by Creator/DreamWorksAnimation. The movie is about four friends -- Alex the Lion (voiced by Creator/BenStiller), Marty the Zebra (Creator/ChrisRock), Gloria the Hippo (Creator/JadaPinkett-Smith) and Melman the Giraffe (Creator/DavidSchwimmer) -- who live in New York's Central Park Zoo. Since they have lived their whole life in the zoo, they are unaware of what the wilderness is like or the fact that Alex is their natural predator (he believes the natural role of lions is to perform song-and-dance numbers). After they are shipped off to a wildlife reserve for escaping, they become shipwrecked on the coast of Madagascar. There they meet a society of lemurs and Alex's true nature as a carnivore starts to emerge.

* ClingyAquaticLife: When the animals wash up on the shores of Madagascar, Gloria comes out of the water with seaweed on her head to look like long hair, as well as two starfish and a crab stuck to her body, [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar positioned to look like she's wearing a bikini]].

* CurseCutShort: Combined with GettingCrapPastTheRadar and ThermometerGag concerning a birthday gift from Melman to Marty...cue Marty going, "MOTHER...*Phhbbllaaghht*!"

In January 2020, another spinoff ''WesternAnimation/MadagascarALittleWild'' was announced, featuring the main quartet as kids residing in their rescue habitat at the Central Park Zoo. It is set to be released on Creator/{{Hulu}} on September 7, 2020.

In January 2020, another spinoff "Madagascar: A Little Wild'' was announced, featuring the main quartet as kids residing in their rescue habitat at the Central Park Zoo. It is set to be released on Creator/{{Hulu}} on September 7, 2020.

* PredatorTurnedProtector: Alex voluntarily exiles himself after realizing that as a predator, he means a threat to his friends. But when Marty is attacked by a pack of fossa, Alex comes to his rescue in a BigDamnHeroes moment

* AlwaysABiggerFish: King Julian's plan was to have Alex be the protector of the lemurs since he scared the fossa off by accident. But, Maurice was the sole dissenter of this plan because he recognised Alex as a carnivore and knew that it was only a matter of time before he goes savage and tries to hunt one of their own.

* AscendedExtra: The [[spoiler:little old lady]] from the first movie plays an important role in the second.

** In one of the first scenes, we’re shown the Zooster’s daily lives. Photos are seen of Alex posing, Marty running, Gloria swimming, and Melman receiving medical attention.

* CurseCutShort: Combined with GettingCrapPastTheRadar and ThermometerGag concerning a birthday gift from Melman to Marty...cue Marty going, "MOTHER-F...*Phhbbllaaghht*!"

* EscapedAnimalRampage: The first movie is about a gang of zoo animals who escape in the city because one of them -- Marty -- is bored of his zoo life, and the others follow him in order to get him back to the zoo. They are then re-captured and released into the wild.

'''Gloria''': Marty, you've just got to be a little more un-\\

* JustTrainWrong: When Alex, Melman and Gloria are on the subway trying to get to Grand Central, the train they're on is made of R62A subway cars, but they're depicted as having two sets of doors when the real life cars have three sets.

** Marty insists that he's not at fault, even though by escaping the zoo he is indeed indirectly at fault for what happened. Immediately lampshaded by Gloria.

'''Marty:''' See, I told you I don't look like a... wait, what did you just say?

'''Marty:''' Mada-who-ha?\\

* TakeThat: When searching for Marty, Alex takes a jab at Connecticut.
-->'''Alex:''' What does Connecticut have to offer?
-->'''Melman:''' Lyme Disease?

* TailorMadePrison: Alex in the first movie. His HeroicBSOD leads to him building his own ''enclosure''.

* ThisIsMySide: During Alex's feud with Marty during the first movie.

* VineSwing: Marty swings on a vine in the opening scene during his daydream. Then he and Alex actually do it when they "go wild" on the island of Madagascar.

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: "The fossa. They're always annoying us by trespassing, interrupting our parties, and ripping our limbs off."

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Series-wide]]
* AccidentalMisnaming:
** No, Makunga, his name's Bob, not Shirley.
** Stefano keeps calling Alex "Alice".
* AlterKocker: The old lady, complete with VampireVords.
* AmbiguouslyGay: King Julien up until the second film where asks all of his subjects which one is attracted to him. The third film gives him a canon girlfriend, Sonya the Bear, thus making him AmbiguouslyBi.
* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The level of technology seen throughout the series is kept rather low, while FreezeFrameBonus in the second movie seem to imply the present plot is set in the 80s, another one in the third movie implies the setting is present day. Confusing things further is ''Penguins of Madagascar'', which ditches the retro aesthetic entirely and displays futuristic looking technology.
* AnimalGenderBender: Lemur groups in real life are ruled by females, though Maurice pointed out that Julien's title is a self-proclaimed one.
* AnimalTalk: Oddly, it's never made clear if Alex understands the concept that humans can't understand him, as he talks to them like he expects to be heard in all three movies.
* AnthropomorphicZigZag: The animal characters go between walking on all fours to walking like human beings like it's nobody's business.
* ArtifactTitle:
** The second film starts in Madagascar, and has nothing else to do with it.
** The third film has nothing to do with Madagascar, [[spoiler:except that at the end of the film, Captain Chantel, along with three officers, are sent to Madagascar.]] Ditto for the [[WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar spinoff movie]] and [[WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar TV series]] (yes, we mean the television series, [[WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien not the Netflix one]]).
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Skipper, the penguin's leader.
* AxCrazy:
** The penguins are a well-oiled comedic killing machine.
** However, they don't hold a candle to captain [=DuBois=], [[spoiler: at least ''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint not until they]] [[StealthPun literally fire her and her comrades out of a cannon]] ]]''.
%%* BadassBystander
* BambooTechnology:
** Marty's house in the first movie, and the plane in the second movie does it twice.
** The (rebuilt) plane (more like an autogyro) reappears in the third film [[spoiler:but ends up completely totaled with no hope for repair]].
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The CentralTheme of the entire series. Marty wants to go to the Wild (aka UsefulNotes/{{Connecticut}}), the penguins want to go to Antarctica, Marty wants to belong to a herd of zebras, Gloria wants to have children and the "core four" want to return to the Central Park Zoo in the second and third films. None of it pans out for them, save for Melman carrying a torch for Gloria.
* BlackComedyAnimalCruelty: In the first two films, a [[WhenEldersAttack little elderly lady named Nana]] brutally beats up Alex, calling him a "bad kitty".
* BreakoutCharacter:
** The Penguins, who got their own short, and later an animated series and a spinoff film.
** King Julien, as well as Maurice and Mort by association, who manages to join the penguins in their animated series (taking Alex's place in the Zoo, no less) and later his own animated series.
* ButtMonkey: Mort. Even more so in the television spinoff.
* CallBack: Remember in the first movie when Alex said being stranded in Madagascar was the worst thing to ever happen to them? Try watching the end of the third movie.
--> '''Alex''': Leaving the zoo [[spoiler: was the best thing to ever happen to us]].\\
'''Marty''': Really?
* ChekhovsBoomerang: The plane. It appears first during the lemurs' meeting in the first film, then shows up again in the second film where it's used to get the main characters to Africa and then appears again later. It then appears a final time in the third film.
* ChekhovsGun:
** [[spoiler:"When we need water, we build a dam!"]]
** Not to mention the bite marks on Marty's butt from the first film, which [[spoiler:Alex uses to tell the difference between him and the rest of the herd of identical zebras in the second.]]
** The diamonds and gold found in the second movie become more useful in the third movie.
** "Trapeze Americano".
* TheChewToy: Alex and Melman have their moments, especially in the first movie.
* ChristmasSpecial: ''A Christmas Caper'' and ''Merry Madagascar''.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: King Julien, ever so much.
* {{Cloudcuckoolanguage}}: King Julien is a crazy, party-loving, self-obsessed lemur who has {{Malaproper}} tendencies.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Zuba and Florrie disappear from the franchise after the second film due to the death of Zuba’s actor Bernie Mac.
* CoolOldLady: The little old woman from the first movie, who ''[[NeverMessWithGranny beats up a lion]]'' while everyone else is running in terror. [[spoiler:She returns in the second, and actually contrives to become ''even more dangerous''. She is present in the penguins' special, too, but lacking Alex she has no fighting scene.]]
* DenserAndWackier: Goes further in this direction with every new movie.
* ShownTheirWork: All of Phil's sign language throughout the franchise is accurate, American Sign Language - Mason's interpretation isn't always perfect but it is suitably close enough to count.
** Melman's will in the sand in the first movie is an accurate, legal and binding will.
* DisneyAcidSequence:
** Alex's MushroomSamba from the first movie, when he's hit by a tranquilizing dart (set to the Sammy Davis, Jr. cover of "[[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory The Candy Man]]").
** In the third movie, the circus performance is very trippy, with colorful flashing lights in front of a dark background, and animals flying around in all directions. It's hard to tell what is actually happening on-stage and what is just imagination.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: The Penguins, whether by land, air or sea. Of course animals can't drive, but the Penguins themselves seem to take delight in pulling this trope.
--> (Madagascar 2) '''Skipper:''' "When it comes to air travel, we know you have no choice whatsoever, but thanks again for choosing Penguin Air."\\
(Madagascar 3) '''Skipper:''' "No brakes?!" ''(Looks at Kowalski, who smiles and shrugs)'' "Well, way to commit, soldier!"
* ElderlyBlueHairedLady: Not literally, but the Penguins identify that old woman by the codename "Bluehair".
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: So much so that it crosses with EnsembleDarkhorse and eventually spawned a spin-off.
* FatAndSkinny:
** King Julien and Maurice. Somewhat inverted because the fat one is the StraightMan.
** Gloria and Melman count as well.
* FemaleGaze:
** Done quite disturbingly in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArNgXyxr1TA Moto Moto's entrance]].
** The way the camera lingers on Vitaly as he douses himself in oil[[spoiler:/mane conditioner]] for his act is... suggestive.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''Merry Madagascar'', which was made after the second movie, but takes place before it, Gloria and Melman get some light ShipTease to build up to their future relationship they start in the second one.
* FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider: In the first movie, Alex finds a big hairy spider on his shoulders. The only thing the spider does is give him a big friendly smile and a cheery "Well, howdy-do", but Alex freaks out anyway.
* GenialGiraffe: Melman the giraffe is one of the main protagonists. He's [[{{Adorkable}} high-strung but sweet]], and TheHeart of the team. He even eventually hooks up with Gloria the hippo!
* GoshDangItToHeck:
** Alex in the first film: "Darn you! Darn you all to heck!"
** Done again by Vitaly in the third film: "That's ''bolshevik''!"
* HypercompetentSidekick: Maurice.
* {{Interquel}}:
** ''Merry Madagascar'' takes place between the first and second movies.
** ''Madly Madagascar'' takes place between the second and third movies.
* InterspeciesRomance:
** In the sequel, Melman reveals he has feelings for Gloria. By the end of the movie, it's mutual. In third movie we get Julien and Sonya, and Alex and Gia.
** At least Alex and Gia are both felines.
** In ''Merry Madagascar'' there is Private and Cupid.
* JiveTurkey: Marty the Zebra is the only one of the group to use street slang.
* {{Keet}}: Alex is ''really'' hyperactive, especially in the first one. So much that Skipper refers to him as "that psychotic lion". This is probably a gag on that Alex called the penguins psychotic earlier.
* LargeHam: King Julien XIII.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Several of the characters/character groups seem to have their own theme:
** King Julien has "I Like To Move It Move It" (which is also the series's theme).
** Mort has this dorky "La La La La La" song.
** Moto Moto has "I Like Them Big, I Like Them Chunky".
** Alex has "Alex The Lion" & "The Traveling Song". He also shares a LoveTheme with Gia the Jaguar, "Love Comes As A Surprise".
** The Penguins as a theme done in the style of ''Series/MissionImpossible, Film/JamesBond'', or spy flicks in general.
** The Chimps have a goofy, bouncy theme that can only be described as "fun-loving mayhem".
** Makunga has a throbbing, dark, ominous, villainous bad guy theme.
** Nana has the theme from ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''....polka-style (being a stereotypical Jewish granny AlterKocker and all).
** Vitaly has this cool, deep, Russian choir of deep, manly voices.
** Chantell [=DuBois=] has this really swanky & vampish tango music.
* MaleGaze:
** When [=DuBois=] is sniffing out the animals in Monte Carlo, one of her men can't help but get a good look at her as she's crawling around. Another officer notices this and smacks him.
** Done a ''lot'' with Gloria. They don't even ''try'' to hide her rear end!
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Gloria and Melman.
* MeaningfulEcho: Alex says to Marty, "I'm thinking of a song. It's a wonderful song. I think you're familiar with it." Then after singing, the first verse of New York, New York, Alex says, "C'mon, you know the words. Two little words." [[spoiler:Later, Marty says and does the same thing after he tells Alex, who is on the fossa side of the island so that he can protect Marty and the others from himself, that he's not leaving without him.]]
** It becomes a [[KilledMidSentence Tranqed Mid Sentence]], and he hams it up with an imitation Russian accent, but it's still pretty meaningful when Alex echoes Vitaly's BadassBoast: "We go back and we show them how wrong we were... and if we go down in flames... so be it!" (The first part also echoes Alex's intended rebuke for the penguins in Monte Carlo, "show them how wrong ''they'' were (for leaving us)".)
* MeaningfulName:
** According to the November 2008 issue of National Geographic Kids, "Moto Moto" in an African language (they didn't say which one, possibly Swahili) ''does'' mean "hot hot".
** Vitaly's name is one letter away from "vital" and he is TheHeart of the circus. "As Vitaly goes, so does the circus."
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Good God, the Penguins are so full of this that it's ridiculous. Wait, that was [[RuleOfFunny the whole point]], wasn't it?
* MushroomSamba: Alex has two of them when he is shot in the hand by a tranquilizer dart.
* MusicalSlapstickMontage: In the first film, a montage of Alex suffering due to the wild on the island plays, to the sound of "What a Wonderful World".
* NeverSayDie: Averted across the first two movies, though principally (if not always) with {{Ineffectual Death Threat}}s.
* NiceHat: King Julien consistently makes himself bigger and more garish crowns with leaves, small animals, carved wood, flamingo feathers... anything. What he does with the old ones is unknown. In the first movie he has two different crowns and in the second he changes between three different crowns.
* NoCartoonFish:
** The fish are the only non-anthropomorphic animals in the entire first film, and thus the only things predators can eat [[CarnivoreConfusion without feeling guilty]].
** Averted in the second film, with the screaming fish at the watering hole.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Melman the giraffe seems to be a parody of Creator/WoodyAllen, if being nerdy, neurotic, and AmbiguouslyJewish is any indication.
* NonMammalMammaries:
** Surprisingly averted in a film where hippos can walk on their back legs.
** In the third film, however, Gia the jaguar has a body shape that certainly suggests breasts.
* OfficerAndAGentleman: Skipper.
* OfficialCouple: By the end of the second movie, Melman and Gloria. This carries over into the third movie, though very little is done with it, aside from a few pet names and their duo tightrope act.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Mort. WordOfGod says that Mort is actually 35. The scene revealing this was cut out. This takes him from cute to downright creepy.
* OnlySaneMan: Maurice - although not by a whole lot. He has a tendency to agree with King Julien on a lot of his majesty's crazy ideas.
* OutOfFocus: Melman and Gloria have a substantial amount of lines and screen time in the third film, but the story mostly focuses on Alex and the circus folk, with the Penguins, Julien, and the police having their own subplots. Marty also suffers from this a little, but he fares better than Melman and Gloria.
* OverlyLongGag: Anything Julien says feels like this.
-->'''Talking to crowd:''' What does that do? Excellent question. First, my sacrifice goes in the volcano. Then, the friendly gods eat up my sacrifice.\\
'''As water god:''' Mmm, very nice. Thank you for the sacrifice.\\
'''As Julien:''' Here, have another sacrifice.\\
'''As water god:''' No, I've had enough for today.\\
'''As Julien:''' Listen, I'm going to be very insulted if you don't take another.\\
'''As water god:''' I don't want another sacrifice, okay?\\
'''As Julien:''' But look at you! You look skinny!\\
'''As water god:''' No! I've had enough! Is that clear?
** Gia's shooting down of Alex's somewhat delusional belief the circus animals saw him as an intimidating leader partakes of this too.
* OverlyLongName: King Julien's full name.
* ParentalBonus:
** Quite a few references to made-for-adult films like ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'', ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' and others, along with Alex telling [[Film/CastAway a basketball with a paw print]] on it to shut up...
** The sequel takes it UpToEleven with references and gags the target audience couldn't ''possibly'' get, including [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] to ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959, ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', and there's even a slightly troubling joke about Mort trying to get scissors and hand cream through airport security...
* PilotMovie: ''The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper'' is one for ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'', featuring early versions of core elements from the spinoff, most prominently the Penguin base and Rico's AxCrazy redesign.
* {{Prequel}}:
** ''A Christmas Caper'' takes place shortly before the first movie.
** ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'' is presumably set several ''years'' before the first movie. [[spoiler:And even ends on the night Alex and co arrive on Madagascar]].
* ReferenceOverdosed: The first movie especially. There's an estimated average of one pop culture joke every 20 seconds.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Mort the lemur.
* {{Robinsonade}}
* RuleOfFunny: More and more with the series. ''Why'' can Marty soar through the air in the 3rd movie? Because it's hilarious.
* RunningOnAllFours: Lampshaded by Marty.
* SapientEatSapient: Not only does the first movie play with Alex's awakening carnivorous nature, the second has a group of humans nearly ready to eat Alex himself before he reveals he's a ''[[RevealingSkill famous]]'' lion.
* SassyBlackWoman: Gloria is voiced to sound like one.
* SavingChristmas: ''Merry Madagascar''.
* SceneryPorn: Quite a lot of it, particularly the scene where Julien shows them "paradise".
* SmallAnnoyingCreature: Mort, particularly to Julien.
* SoftGlass:
** The old lady flying through the jeep's windscreen. Though this is the same woman who can hold her own against lions, and survived the same jeep knocking her over.
** The Zoosters also fall unscathed through a skylight in ''Europe's Most Wanted''.
* SoundtrackDissonance:
** In the first film, "What a Wonderful World" plays while Alex flees his friends and his friends (elsewhere) see various animals getting eaten as they take a walk.
*** This is somewhat justified in that the music itself is more melancholic than you would anticipate from the text.
** Later, [[BlackComedy in the midst of Alex chasing Marty down to eat him]], the National Geographic {{Fanfare}} is played.
** Another during the second movie. While Alex is fighting the old lady, a fast polka version of ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'''s theme is played.
*** It's reprised at the end when [[spoiler:Nana (the old lady) beats up Makunga.]]
** Also in ''Escape 2 Africa'', the plane rescue of Alex has "Copacabana" playing.
** And in ''Escape 2 Africa'', the jeep the penguins steal has a tape that plays "More Than A Feeling".
** In the third film, Music/{{Enya}}'s ''Watermark'' plays during [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction Sonya and Julien]]'s FallingInLoveMontage.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: King Juli'''e'''n, not Juli'''a'''n.
* {{Spinoff}}: ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'', which is justified in that Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman's stories were more or less wrapped up in a neat bow.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike:
** In ''A Christmas Caper'', after Private runs off, Skipper tells his men to think about the Penguin Credo. Kowalski thinks that he is referring to "Never bathe in hot oil and Bisquick." Later, when the penguins find Private again, Skipper tells him to remember the Penguin Credo, and he replies "What does deep-frying in Bisquick have to do with any of this?"
** In the third movie, both [=DuBois=] and Vitaly comment on Alex's "glossy mane".
* StrangerInAFamiliarLand:
** The first film implies this to be the reason why the penguins didn't stay within Antarctica like what they originally wanted, especially as ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'' reveals they were born there.
** By the third film, Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman finally complete TheHomewardJourney. Unfortunately, their adventures throughout the series made them unfit at the Central Park Zoo. To make things worse, they're apprehended and trapped there with increased security measures, and the animal control officer who captured them still wants them dead. Fortunately, their friends come to their rescue, and in the end Alex and the gang decide they belong in a touring circus.
* TakeThat:
-->'''Julien:''' Hmm, New York. It's kind of a dump. Are you sure we're not in UsefulNotes/NewJersey?
** In the third movie:
-->'''Alex''': Are you kidding?! I don't drive, I'm a New Yorker!
* TastesLikeChicken: The little old lady says lions do.
* ThoseTwoGuys:
** King Julien and Maurice.
** Maurice and Mort in the third film.
** Also, the chimpanzee duo.
* TrueCompanions: Over the course of the movies, the zoosters eventually form a close group throughout their travels. The group starts off with four members in Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman, and later expands to include the penguins and chimps (as of the end of the first movie), King Julian, Maurice and Mort (as of the second movie) and the circus animals (as of the third movie).
* WalkingDisasterArea: Dear God, yes. Alex, Marty and the penguins in particular can't seem to not cause widespread damage, though in the penguins' case, they really don't care (and enjoy it, too.)
* WhenEldersAttack: The little old lady.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Madagascar'']]

[[/folder]]

* DidDoTheResearch: All of Phil's sign language throughout the franchise is accurate, American Sign Language - Mason's interpretation isn't always perfect but it is suitably close enough to count.

--> (Madagascar 2) '''Skipper:''' "When it comes to air travel, we know you have no choice whatsoever, but thanks again for choosing Penguin Air."
--> (Madagascar 3) '''Skipper:''' "No brakes?!" ''(Looks at Kowalski, who smiles and shrugs)'' "Well, way to commit, soldier!"

--> '''Marty:''' Oh '''S'''ugar '''H'''oney '''I'''ce '''T'''ea!

There have also been two {{Christmas Special}}s: the short film ''A Christmas Caper'' ([[{{Prequel}} set before the first movie]]) and the TV special ''Merry Madagascar'' ([[{{Interquel}} set between the first and second movies]]). A Valentine's Day TV special, ''Madly Madagascar'', has been released as well. Like with many animation properties, [[VideoGame/{{Madagascar}} a series of tie-in games exists.]]

** This film is much slower-paced than its sequels and is more like a series of related sketches strung together rather than a single flowing plot.

''Madagascar'' is a successful 2005 [[AllCGICartoon computer-animated comedy]] produced by Creator/DreamWorksAnimation. The movie is about four friends -- Alex the Lion (voiced by Creator/BenStiller), Marty the Zebra (Creator/ChrisRock), Gloria the Hippo (Creator/JadaPinkett-Smith) and Melman the Giraffe (Creator/DavidSchwimmer) -- who live in New York's Central Park Zoo. Since they have lived their whole life in the zoo, they are unaware of what the wilderness is like or the fact that Alex is their natural predator (he believes the natural role of lions is to perform song-and-dance numbers). After they are shipped off to a wildlife reserve for escaping, they become shipwrecked on the coast of Madagascar. There they meet a society of lemurs and Alex's true nature as a carnivore starts to emerge.

** In ''A Christmas Caper'', after Private runs off, Skipper tells his men to think about the Penguin Credo. Kowalski thinks that he is referring to "Never bathe in hot oil and bisquick." Later, when the penguins find Private again, Skipper tells him to remember the Penguin Credo, and he replies "What does swimming in bisquick have to do with anything?"

** The third film has nothing to do with Madagascar, [[spoiler:except that at the end of the film, Captain Chantel, along with three officers, are sent to Madagascar.]] Ditto for the spinoff movie and TV series.

** The sequel takes it UpToEleven with references and gags the target audience couldn't ''possibly'' get, including [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] to ''Series/TheTwilightZone, Theatre/WestSideStory'', and there's even a slightly troubling joke about Mort trying to get scissors and hand cream through airport security...

* AllwaysABiggerFish: King Julian's plan was to have Alex be the protector of the lemurs since he scared the fossa off by accident. But, Maurice was the sole dissenter of this plan because he recognised Alex as a carnivore and knew that it was only a matter of time before he goes savage and tries to hunt one of their own.

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: As a zoo animal, Alex has always had a constant supply of meat and this has suppressed his predatory instincts. However, being on Madagascar has removed his supply, causing his predatory nature to resurface. Due to extreme hunger and withdrawal, Alex goes into a feeding frenzy and Marty barely survives the attack.]]