"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" takes off as the memorable characters from the first film are finally leaving Madagascar to return to their home, the Central Park Zoo. (The movie might have been more accurately titled "Escape From Madagascar With an Unscheduled Stopover in Central Africa.")

Departing in a rickety plane refurbished by a team of resourceful penguins, with the lemur King Julien and his factotum Maurice along for the ride, the group doesn't get far until the conveyance plummets to the ground.

It turns out that the menagerie has landed in the middle of continental Africa, where, as a harrowing prologue explains, Alex was born and cub-napped several years ago. And it's at this point that "Escape 2 Africa's" myriad storylines seem to multiply like so many wildebeests, with Alex reuniting with his parents, Marty discovering the comforts and challenges of fitting in with the herd, the hypochondriac Melman becoming a tribal healer and facing his own possibly impending death, and Gloria finding love with a seductive hippo-on-the-make named Moto Moto, voiced by Black Eyed Peas singer Will.I.Am.

Eventually, all the busy plot lines meet up, converging in a way that may not get points for elegance but that accomplishes the job at hand: setting up the sequel, which was reportedly underway when this movie began filming.