Featuring the voices of Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Rated general.

Man, have we come a long way from Toy Story-and I don't really mean that in a good way. Computer-generated cartooning has grown in the past decade, both technically and as a moneymaking niche all its own. But where the first Toy Storys, the initial Shrek, and Monsters, Inc. took us to places of wonder and pop-culture excellence, the recent crop of digital 'toons, post-Shrek 2, you could say, is not so inspiring.

A Shark Tale, Racing Stripes, and (especially) Robots seem more the creations of bottom-line- minded accountants than of the folks who brought us Woody and Buzz Lightyear. Okay, maybe some of these are the same people, but let's assume they're a bit tired by now, after all those years of sitting at their computers.

This is a long-winded way of saying that Madagascar is serviceable entertainment but nothing to go ape over. By now, the A-list voices and fur that billows in programmable wind-not to mention the knowing winks to old TV shows and movies-are the least we expect, not the most. And that's pretty much what's on display here: DreamWorks expertise, 2005 edition, and what did you say was for dinner, honey?

The story, forgettable on paper, is fitfully engaging in the moment. At the notably bar-less Central Park Zoo in New York, best friends Marty (Chris Rock) and Alex (Ben Stiller) have different takes on captivity. The latter lives a lion's life, with endless admiration and a bottomless supply of juicy steaks while Marty the zebra yearns for an unfettered life in the wild.

Through a fluke relating to Marty's attempts to be free, the duo ends up getting shipped to Africa, alongside their pals Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), a sassy hippo, and Melman (David Schwimmer), a hypochondriac giraffe. Melman would prefer Canada for the "cheap meds".

The story gets a lift when our critters crash-land somewhere in Africa, presumably, judging from the odd collection of hyenas (bad) and lemurs (funny) they encounter. Stealing these scenes is Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Ali G, as the king of the lemurs, a self-aggrandizing primate with an Indo-Middle Eastern accent.

It's hard to resist a running subplot with penguins forever plotting their escape. The lead penguin is voiced by the Phil Hartmanesque Tom McGrath, a Ren & Stimpy veteran who also codirected this with Antz man Eric Darnell from a script they wrote with Mark Burton and Billy Frolick.

Snappy repartee between the leads suggests potential spinoff in the live-action department (one is cool, the other is kvetchy) and makes me recall Rock's best joke from his standup days: "I like to get together with my Jewish friends and play a game called 'Who's suffered the most?'?"

There's nothing that edgy in Madagascar. Damn, what were we talking about? I've forgotten already.