Animal attraction

By Chen Nan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-03 16:54

The New Year movie season kicks off in Beijing cinemas with the sequel to Dreamwork's 2005 Madagascar.

Escape 2 Africa is fun for all the family and features the same four zoo animals who break out of New York's Central Park Zoo and then, through a series of misadventures, wind up in the wilds of Madagascar.

All the characters are back: Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo, King Julien, Maurice and the hilarious penguins.

Left deserted on the distant shores of Madagascar, they are helped by those industrious penguins, who repair a crashed plane and take to the air.

The crew crashlands in the vast plains of Africa where those zoo-raised crew encounter species of their own kind for the very first time.

While discovering their roots, and a very dangerous group of New York tourists, they quickly realize the difference between the concrete jungle and the heart of Africa.

Dreamworks animators are on target again dishing up family fun at its best. The penguins are a knockout.

Bolt from Disney is a coming-of-age story about an overconfident celebrity canine actor. Bolt is brought up believing his film set is the real world until a chance cross-country sends him out into the real world.

As Bolt makes his way from New York to Hollywood, he gets a lesson in life and friendship, and learns the true meaning of being a hero.

The kids will love it.

Films also screening at city cinemas include:

Lady Cop-Papa Crook

Sammi Cheng stars as a police officer investigating the kidnapping of a boy, who happens to be the son of a crime kingpin. Thus begins an unlikely alliance between cops and criminals. The film marks Cheng's first feature after a three-year absence from Hong Kong cinema. In this flick, she plays a 30something single cop, which is a break from her previous roles as a white-collar urban professional.

All About Women

Tsui Hark directs this romantic comedy about three career women (played by Zhou Xun, Kwai Lun-mei and Kitty Zhang) of different professions and backgrounds dealing with love in Beijing.