Merry Madagascar

Merry Madagascar is a half-hour animated holiday special continuing the story of the animals who escaped from New York's Central Park Zoo. Stranded on the island of Madagascar, Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo find their plans disrupted when Santa Claus crash-lands on their island and loses his memory. With Christmas at risk, the group takes on the job of delivering presents, while King Julien sees the situation as a chance to elevate his own standing. The penguins, as usual, have ideas of their own, and Santa's undamaged sleigh raises the possibility of a trip to New York.

The special was directed by David Soren, the first feature-length project in his directing filmography, followed later by Turbo, Madly Madagascar, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and Under the Boardwalk. Soren also co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, with Joe M. Aguilar producing for DreamWorks Animation and Pacific Data Images. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith return to voice Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria, joined by Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice and Andy Richter as Mort.

Released in November 2009, the special runs 30 minutes. On IMDb it holds a 6.6 rating from around 7,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.5 from roughly 329 votes, indicating a modest but consistent response from audiences across both platforms.