Merry Madagascar



Merry Madagascar is a Christmas special first broadcast on the NBC network on November 17, 2009, which starred the characters from the Madagascar film series. The story appears to take place sometime between the first and second films.

It features many of the same voices from the film (except Sacha Baron Cohen, who was replaced by Danny Jacobs, the voice of Julien in both The Penguins of Madagascar and All Hail King Julien television series), including Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Carl Reiner provided the voice of Santa Claus.

Plot
Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer), and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) attempt to return to New York City in a hot air balloon, but the lemur population inadvertently thwarts their escape plan, as they mistook them for the "red night goblin" that visits every year at that time. Immediately after that, the "goblin" showers the island with coals; Alex evades the barrage and shoots it down, but soon discovers that it was actually Santa Claus throwing coal at Julien for being naughty.

The group realizes the crash has left Santa with amnesia, unaware of his responsibilities, and resolve to deliver all the presents for him and then use the sleigh to get them back home. However, the reindeer (who have a rivalry with the penguins over Santa's original workshop location) refuse to take orders from anyone other than Santa, forcing them to rely on the penguins, who use Santa's magic dust to fly. Their attempts to make deliveries initially go awry, so they agree to dump the gifts at their respective post offices. However, after crashing into an apartment and unintentionally bringing joy to a little girl (Willow Smith), they continue with the deliveries (despite the adverse conditions).

Back on Madagascar, while the lemurs are presenting gifts to Julien for "Julianuary", Santa rediscovers his ability to make toys, to the lemurs' amazement. He soon crafts gifts for all of them to enjoy, much to Julien's anger since he feels the focus is supposed to be on him; Julien decrees that all the lemurs' gifts are now his. He begins to feel depressed as he sifts through the presents alone; Santa suggests that giving someone a gift might change Julien's mood, which it does.

As the night nears its end, the animals discover that they only have enough magic dust to make one last trip (Madagascar or home). Putting aside their personal wishes, they return to Madagascar to rescue Santa, but they run out of dust and crash into him by mistake. This restores Santa's memory, and he thanks the animals for making his deliveries for him; he also takes Julien off the naughty list. However, they overlooked one last bag meant for Liechtenstein, and Santa switches to a reserve tank to make the trip in time before the animals can ask for a ride. Despite this, the animals resolve to enjoy their Christmas in Madagascar, but Julien mischievously throws a coconut at Alex to get back on the naughty list, causing a lump on his head and amnesia, like Santa before him.

Cast

 * Ben Stiller as Alex the lion
 * Chris Rock as Marty the zebra
 * David Schwimmer as Melman the giraffe
 * Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria the hippopotamus
 * Danny Jacobs as King Julien XIII the ring-tailed lemur
 * Tom McGrath as Skipper the penguin
 * Chris Miller as Kowalski the penguin
 * Christopher Knights as Private the penguin
 * Carl Reiner as Santa Claus
 * Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice the aye-aye
 * Andy Richter as Mort the mouse lemur
 * Nina Dobrev as Cupid the reindeer
 * Willow Smith as Abby
 * Jim Cummings as Donner, the lead reindeer

Note: Rico appears, but John DiMaggio recorded no lines for him.

Awards
Merry Madagascar was nominated for six Annie Awards, and won one award for Storyboarding in a Television Production.

Home media
Merry Madagascar was released on DVD in the United States on November 18, 2009, exclusively at Walmart stores, and it was widely released on October 11, 2011. The special was released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 30, 2012, as part of compilation titled Dreamworks Holiday Classics. It was re-released on DVD on October 1, 2013 along with Shrek the Halls, Kung Fu Panda Holiday, Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury, and The Croods.

Partnership
In July 2011, as part of a strategic partnership between DreamWorks Animation and Gaylord Hotels, Merry Madagascar was presented as the theme of the ICE! exhibit at Gaylord's hotels in Nashville and Maryland. In this presentation, the plot of the film is told through a series of ice sculptures that visitors walk past.