Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)

Most people think so. 82% of audiences gave it a thumbs up, by Google's archived audience score. Critics gave it 62%.

Alex, Marty, and other zoo animals find a way to escape from Madagascar when the penguins reassemble a wrecked airplane. The precariously repaired craft stays airborne just long enough to make it to the African continent. There the New Yorkers encounter members of their own species for the first time. Africa proves to be a wild place, but Alex and company wonder if it is better than their Central Park home. Wikipedia ↗

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is a 2008 American animated comedy produced by DreamWorks Animation, the sequel to the 2005 hit. Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe, and Gloria the hippo attempt to fly back to New York from Madagascar aboard a rickety airplane repaired by the penguins, but crash-land on the mainland of Africa. There, Alex discovers the vast wildlife preserve where he was born and is emotionally reunited with his parents — his father Zuba, the alpha lion voiced by the late Bernie Mac, and his mother voiced by Sherri Shepherd — only to discover that Zuba's rival Makunga, voiced by Alec Baldwin, seeks to use Alex's sheltered upbringing against him to seize leadership of the pride.

The film deepened each character's emotional arc: Alex confronted his inadequacy as a "real" lion raised in captivity, Melman finally confessed his unrequited love for Gloria, and Marty faced an existential crisis upon meeting hundreds of identical zebras who challenge his sense of individuality. The Penguins and King Julien continued to provide the franchise's most reliable and quotable comedy, with the Penguins' grand theft auto sequence through the African savanna becoming a standout set piece. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa earned $603 million worldwide on a $150 million budget, a significant improvement over the original.