MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA (PG) Family/Comedy/Romance. Featuring the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric The Entertainer, Bernie Mac, Sherri Shepherd, Alec Baldwin.

Animal magic is in short supply in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, a colourful computer animated sequel for the entire family which cheekily recycles the plot of The Lion King.

Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath's film strands its menagerie of misfits in the wild, where they discover the courage to follow their hearts and to reclaim a birthright as king of the jungle.

Important lessons about loyalty to friends, individuality in the face of conformity and inter-species romance are hammered home without any attempt at subtlety.

As in the first film, Sacha Baron Cohen merrily scene-steals as a crazy lemur, who enjoys the finer things in life when he's not shaking his furry booty to Reel 2 Reel's infectious dance anthem, I Like To Move It, Move It.

Kids will squeal at the slapstick and bright colours; parents and older audiences will have to search much harder for amusement.

Alex the lion (voiced by Stiller), Marty the zebra (Rock), Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippopotamus (Smith) are finally ready to leave the exotic island of Madagascar and return to New York's Central Park Zoo.

Boarding a rickety plane with ring-tailed lemur King Julien the 13th, the animals crash-land shy of their destination, ending up on the plains of Africa.

Alex comes mane-to-mane with his long lost father Zuba (Mac) and doting mother (Shepherd).

Zuba's sworn, jealous rival Makunga (Baldwin) suggests that Alex take part in a traditional rites of passage ceremony, knowing full well that if the newcomer fail, he must be exiled from the pride.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa starts promisingly with a flashback to Alex's abduction from the jungle and the flight back to New York, with Kowalski and his feathered friends at the controls of the plane.

Once the story moves to Africa, the similarities to The Lion King are inescapable, and this film pales next to the Disney masterpiece.

The quality of the animation is undeniable – the visuals are crisp and finely detailed.

However, without a compelling storyline to support all of the technical wizardry, the sequel is pristine style and second-hand substance.

Aside from Cohen's attention-grabbing antics, vocal performances are solid but unremarkable.