Madagascar (soundtrack)

Originally, frequent DreamWorks collaborator Harry Gregson-Williams who had worked with the company on Antz (1998), Chicken Run (2000), Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) and the first two Shrek films was hired to compose the film score.^[1] But as Gregson-Williams was busy on the production of Kingdom of Heaven (2005), his mentor and another recurring DreamWorks collaborator Hans Zimmer, who worked on the company's productions: The Prince of Egypt (1998), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Shark Tale (2004), was assigned as the composer.^[2] James Dooley, Heitor Pereira, James S. Levine and Ryeland Allison provided additional music. Zimmer also adapted John Barry's instrumental from "Born Free" into the score track of the same name; the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's cover of the song was used in the opening title sequence. Louis Armstrong's song "What a Wonderful World" is used in the film. The cover version of Reel 2 Real's 1993 single "I Like to Move It" by Sacha Baron Cohen, was also used in the film and since become a recurring theme song throughout the Madagascar franchise.^[2]

Heather Phares of AllMusic wrote "Madagascar is an unpretentious, gets-the-job-done kind of soundtrack, but that's precisely what makes it so appealing."^[2] However, Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks called the album an "insufferable mess" and added "The film's running time indicates that there must be more score material by Zimmer and his ghostwriters than just the ten minutes here. Not even the odd selection of classic songs can save this one."^[3]

Credits adapted from liner notes:^[4]