AMG Review of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa [Music from the Motion Picture]

Andrew Leahey
All Music Guide

Hans Zimmer and will.i.am are the main composers of this soundtrack, which updates the music of 2005's #Madagascar with some African flair and light pop/rock appeal. "I Like to Move It" is reprised with will.i.am handling lead vocals, John Kander's "New York, New York" receives a humorous polka treatment, and original versions of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana (At the Copa)" and Boston's "More Than a Feeling" round out the quartet of tunes that listeners have heard before. The remainder of the album shifts between safari-themed instrumentals, kid-friendly club music, and the sweeping orchestrations that regularly accompany such animated films. "The Traveling Song" even sounds like a contemporary radio single, with will.i.am singing through an Autotune processor over light hip-hop rhythms. The #Madagascar series relies heavily on music, often injecting songs directly into the movies' plot lines, and that emphasis helps fine-tune this soundtrack into a lighthearted, pleasant album.