Animated Movies was launched by Olivier Mouroux in 1999. In addition to a daily news report, he also created a database of information about past, current, and upcoming films. In 2003, he took a job in the industry and had to give up his work on the site. Several fans of Animated Movies decided to take on the task of keeping the news portion of his site going, and founded what is now Animated Views. As AV turns 15, let's take a look back at the site we descended from. Below you can explore the database Olivier compiled at Animated Movies during its existence, as it last appeared online in October 2003. |
Directed
by: Eric Darnell (director of Antz)
Written by: Billy Frolick, Mark Burton
and Peter Mehlman
Production Start Date: 2002
Released on: May 27, 2005
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Alex the lion... Ben Stiller
Gloria the hippo... Jada Pinkett Smith (Madonna then Jennifer
Lopez turned down the role; Gwen Stefani auditioned but lost the part)
Marty the zebra... Chris Rock
Melman the giraffe... David Schwimmer (who replaces Jason Alexander)
Adam del Rio (rumored)
This computer-animated comedy stars four civilized Central Park Zoo
animals who have spent their entire lives in blissful captivity. But when
they are unexpectedly shipped to Africa and get shipwrecked on the exotic
island of Madagascar, these native New Yorkers must try to survive and
come to terms with what it truly means to be 'wild'.
Additional Tidbits
Jeffrey Katzenberg revealed to USA Today on June 9, 2001 that "it's about a lion, a zebra, a giraffe and a hippo who are born and raised and have spent their entire lives as New Yorkers in the Central Park Zoo. They have been best friends their entire lives."
An unexpected thing sets the story in motion. "A bunch of do-gooders decide animals don't belong in the zoo," he says. "They belong in the wild." En route to the jungle, however, the menagerie is washed overboard.
"They end up on the island of Madagascar (off the coast of Africa in
the Indian Ocean), where this perfect life of New York civility is turned
upside down and inside out, and they suddenly come face to face with savagery,"
Katzenberg says, quickly adding: "It's a comedy."
Madagascar
was first heard of in March 2001, when Ricky Martin revealed in several
interviews that he was about to lend his voice to a Dreamworks animated
project that would co-star Madonna and Mel Gibson. In May, a Dreamworks
insider confirmed the existence of this project and Madonna's attachment,
to provide its main character's voice.
Jeffrey Katzenberg
mentioned at a party held by Dreamworks at Siggraph in 2001 that Chris
Rock's zebra character will reportedly have comical issues about whether
he's black with white stripes, or vice versa.
This project first received the code name Wild Life, not to be confused with Disney's cancelled project. It was renamed Madagascar by the time it was officially greenlit and announced by Jeffrey Katzenbery, on June 9, 2001.
The "final" cast was confirmed on August 9, 2001: though neither Ricky Martin nor Mel Gibson apparently signed on to the project, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, and Jason Alexander joined Madonna on this project. All four would be lending their voices to this PDI/DreamWorks Pictures' animated feature. By then, Madonna had reportedly already recorded part of the voice for her part as a New York Hippo--and inded, a source close to production confirmed two years later that Madonna had actually recorded lines for the role, before deciding to leave the project.
Rumours have been
flying that with Tusker allegedly being
abandoned (which is inaccurate) and the Bromeliad
trilogy in the script development stage, Madagascar would be
Dreamworks's next project with PDI -that is highly unlikely.
An October 2001
report indicates that Madonna will be performing the theme song, which
will run during the end credits. There should be no other songs. PDI denied
the rumour in February 2002: "We don't yet know about music--it may be
a year or so before songs are written or chosen for the soundtrack."
Nevertheless, a source for Dreamworks/PDI confirmed in late November 2001 that Madonna "is under consideration for the voice of Gloria (a hippo) in Madagascar but casting has not yet been confirmed." Jennifer Lopez was also in talks to join the project.
PDI confirmed to Animated Movies in February 2002 that "the stories for both Shrek 2 and Madagascar are ready for production (we're doing both movies right now). You'll see Shrek 2 in theatres around Memorial Day 2004 and Madagascar about six months later. " In what is very surprising news -and hopefully not a hoax to spread fake online rumours-, the studio added that "Gwen Stefani, [the lead singer of the group No Doubt] has been cast as Gloria. Test recordings were done with several artists, including Madonna and Jennifer Lopez, before the decision was made to cast Gwen." But the singer revealed to a Dutch radio in May 2002 that she was very disappointed that she did not get the role of Gloria the Hippo in the end. "The hippo looked really cool. She looked feisty and not to be messed with."
The movie was
reportedly pushed back in April 2002 from late 2004 to make room for The
Great Vegetable Plot, to either late 2003 or more likely 2005.
A PDI spokesperson
confirmed in June 2002 that "the voice of Gloria is no longer Gwen Stefani--haven't
heard anyhing about [who will replace her]--," and that there is "no musical
numbers that we know of at this point. We won't be starting the computer
part of the movie until later this year, as we are currently busy with
Shrek
2." As of November 2002, PDI's official word was still that "Madonna,
Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani have all been considered, but a final female
lead for the voice of Gloria the hippo has not yet been made."
PDI/DreamWorks revealed at the Annecy Festival that Madagascar "was not going to look like the 3D movies that we know like Shrek and Monsters, Inc. It will have a much more cartoony design."
Art from Madagascar premiered on the official DreamWorks site in May 2003.
A source close to DreamWorks reported in June 2003 that the film is very stylized, with "beautiful character and background design." The animation tests on Alex the lion are reportedly "spectacular."
Yahoo! Movies got a sneak peak at DreamWorks' upcoming projects in July 2003, and commented that the background art for Madagascar "is loosely based upon the way French Impressionist painter Henri Rousseau imagined jungles, with bright colors and thick sepia-black outlines. DreamWorks is really trying something different with this movie, which is striving, in a way to depart from the goal of realism through CGI in deference for something more imaginative and playful. The character designs match the same basic art style." Based on concept art only, and in comparison to DreamWorks' other three projects currently in development, "this is definitely the movie most obviously targeted at the kids/family audience first and utmost. Of the four, this movie's story was the most like a traditional Disney story. What is ultimately really going to matter here is whether people are entranced by the extravagant, Rousseau-influenced art, all done in beautiful computer animation enough to make it a hit. Whereas other upcoming DreamWorks CGI movies are focusing on visual details, this movie appears happier to soften the details and bend things to fit into an overall painterly diorama. Something like this has never been done before on a large scale, so this feels like an all-or-nothing proposition. So, will DreamWorks' big experiment pay off? People will either let themselves get wrapped up in this luscious version of nature, or they'll be turned off by how 'unrealistic' it looks. My hunch is that more people will feel the former, but the latter will be a nagging problem."
Animation
Magazine specifies that "the story has a set of pampered New York City
zoo animals shipwrecked on a wild island off the coast of Africa. Ben Stiller
provides the voice of a lion who learns that he is a predator and that
the juicy steaks he's accustomed to come from animals like his pals. Chris
Rock plays his best friend, a zebra who doesn't know if he's black with
white stripes or white with black stripes. The movie's success will depend
greatly on the chemistry between the two leads."