Kidsday talks with Jada Pinkett Smith
We went to a screening of the new animated movie "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa."
The movie is about a lion named Zuba (the voice of the late Bernie Mac) who loses his son Alex ( Ben Stiller) when he was a cub. Alex winds up in his new home, Central Park. Alex makes friends with other wild animals, including Gloria the Hippo ( Jada Pinkett Smith), Marty the Zebra ( Chris Rock) and Melman the Giraffe ( David Schwimmer). They want to go to Africa to see other animals like themselves in the wild, so they make a plane to fly to Africa. The plane crashes, but they are fine and are amazed to see so many wild animals.
The movie was hysterical, especially the scenes with the old lady and the penguins. One of our favorite parts was when the old lady beats up an evil lion named Makunga. Another funny scene is when Gloria, the Hippo, dances. We give the movie 41/2 smiles!
After seeing the movie we met Jada Pinkett Smith, who did the voice of Gloria the Hippo, and her daughter, Willow, who did the voice of Baby Gloria. After we finished talking to them, we had birthday cake with Willow because she turned 8 on Halloween! We sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
Willow has now acted in movies with her mom and her dad, Will Smith. They were in "I Am Legend." We asked Willow what that was like. She said, "Really, really weird. He would give me advice like 'feel the moment.' I didn't feel the moment . . . only in bits and pieces."
We asked Jada what her favorite part about filming the second "Madagascar" was. She said, "I guess, very rarely do you get an opportunity to revisit a character you've played already. I had a difficult time doing the first Madagascar because I didn't really understand the process. So I was like, this will be great because I get an opportunity to play the character and I know the process much better so it was just fun and easier."
We also asked her how long it took her to do the voice of Gloria. Jada said, "You know what, it's funny 'cause it doesn't take that long. Out of a three-year process, I might be needed four or five days out of the whole three years to actually record our voices, so I actually do a lot more work actually promoting the movie than making the movie, believe it or not."
Finally, we asked her if there will be a third "Madagascar." She said, "The audience really determines whether we'll have a third one, depending on how much you enjoy it. . . . We'll see."
We hope so!
With warm, sunny weather, it's the perfect time to explore the best parks for kids.
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