At New York’s Central Park Zoo, Alex the lion is the star attraction, living comfortably with Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo. But Marty dreams of freedom and runs away, setting off a chain of events that sends the friends far from home. After a shipwreck, they land in Madagascar, where these very “civilised” animals must learn to survive in the wild, among predators and eccentric lemurs led by King Julien.