Alex the Lion lives in the Central Park Zoo with his friends: a zebra named Marty, a hippo named Gloria, a giraffe named Melman and his sister, Y/N.

That night, they celebrated Marty's birthday and were shocked to hear his wish was to go to the wild because of the penguins. They all tried to talk him out of it, but even after a chat with Alex before they went to bed, he still snuck off to make his wish come true.

In response, all four them traveled through New York until they got to Grand Central Station, where Alex had a run in with a mean old lady. But even though they found Marty, they were tranquilized and put in crates.

Not knowing their destination, except their guess of it being a zoo transfer, they were determined to get back to New York. Then because of the penguins and the chimps, who were also put in crates after leaving the zoo, they were thrown overboard as washed up on the beaches of Madagascar.

Once reunited and believing they're in San Diego, they follow the sound of music to see animals partying with their king, King Julien. But the party was stopped by the foosa, who was about to serve up Mort the Mouse Lemur up for dinner. But Alex, who was just asking for directions, managed to scare them off because of a spider on his back after running into a spider's web a little while back.

Then as a test, the lemurs send Mort out, who was scared of Alex for a minute before Gloria stepped in and comforted him. In response, the lemurs came out to welcome the "New York Giants", as they were called, to the wild. This was not really pleasing to the other four, but Marty was happy he got his wish.

Alex then divided up the beach for Marty to enjoy his time in the wild while the others wanted to find a way to be rescued. The Lady Liberty Statue and HELP sign didn't work, so they went to Marty's place he made and had a great time. But by without them noticing Alex lick Marty's back, which they all though was strange.

The next morning, they all found themselves in paradise because of the lemurs. Marty and Alex went out just running and Alex seemed to finally let loose. Marty then suggested that Alex did his act since they're known as the King and Princess of New York.

During their act, Alex saw everyone their as steaks and leapt down to Marty, biting his butt. Maurice, Julien's right hand lemur, exposed King Julien for befriending them for protection from the foosa and that Alex will eventually eat them. His theory seemed to be right when he started attacking. But when he snapped out of his daze, he realized what he did and ran away to keep his friends and sister safe.

The others saw the boat and got it to come toward them. Marty went to get Alex while Gloria, Melman, and the penguins, who were on the boat, went to help them. Once they found Alex, Marty tried to get him to come back with them, but he refused. Then they were chased away by the foosa and Gloria, Melman, and the penguins helped them out. But when they were getting close to losing Alex came in and save the day.

Then as they were preparing to leave, they found out the boat was out of gas, so the lemurs fixed up a broken down plane for them to use to get home. Not to mention that King Julien and Maurice were going with them.

On the flight, it didn't take too long for the plane to crash land. Thy even ran into some people who were on a safari and one of them was the old lady from New York who beat Alex up in Grand Central Station and now on the safari.

They soon realized they were in Africa and went to get some directions. But Alex and Y/N soon found their parents, Zuba and Florrie, the Alpha Lion and his mate. Hey even found out their real names were Alakay and A/N (African name). During their celebration, they all got comfortable in Africa, with Marty joining a new herd, Melman becoming a doctor, Gloria scoring a date with another hippo named Moto Moto, and Alex and Y/N were welcomed into the pride until Makunga, Zuba's rival, mentioned the Right of Passage for Alex, which he agreed to do.

But when it happened, Alex was tricked into picking Teetsi to fight. But because he lost since all he did was dance, he was to be banished from the pride, which Zuba could not do, so he quit being the Alpha Lion. So Makunga took up the role and banished Alex and his family from the watering hole, which caused a lot of friction between the family. Then Melman thought he caught a disease that he would soon die from and Marty felt he wasn't unique from his herd.

The only one who seemed to have fun was Gloria and after some friction with Melman, who loved her, she went out with Moto Moto.

During the date, Melman was talked into telling her how he feels by King Julien and Maurice. He told Moto Moto what made Gloria perfect to him, making Gloria see Melman in a whole new light.

The next day, the watering hole was dried up and Alex went to get it back, with Marty's help after clearing up an earlier spat. Meanwhile, King Julien suggested a sacrifice in the volcano to bring the water back, which Melman volunteered to do. Then as his "last chance", he confessed to Gloria how he felt. Then Makunga told Zuba and Florrie of what happened with Alex and Y/N, making Zuba go after his children.

Marty and Alex soon found a dam that was keeping the water from getting to the reserve because of the tourists from the safari. But they soon kidnapped Alex, sending Marty to get help.

During the sacrifice issue, Gloria stopped Melman from jumping in the lava and they got together as Marty told them what was going on. Then with a little more convincing, the penguins and the chimps, with more chimps, got the newly remodeled plane to help Alex.

As Alex was roasting on the fire, Zuba and Y/N came and freed him. But then to get them on their side, Alex did his performance from back in New York, making the tourists recognize them and cheer. Zuba soon joined them, earning more applause. But the old lady was about to shoot them until the gang saved them all. They then took out the dam, along with a shark falling in the lava after following Mort, who followed King Julien and Maurice.

After bringing the water back, Makunga still wouldn't let the family rejoin the pride, but with a little help from the old lady, they were all back in the pride. Then Skipper married the hula girl that was in the plane.

The penguins and chimps had left Alex, Y/N, Marty, Gloria, and Melman in Africa for Skipper's honeymoon. It was Alex's birthday when he wished for them to go home and they all agreed to go get them and head home.

Once in Monte Carlo, the gang did their best to get them, seeing they were disguised as the King of Versailles. But it went pretty haywire and the cops called Captain Chantel Dubois of Animal Control.

The chase was on as they sped through Monte Carlo before making it to the roof of the Hotel Ambassador. They ended up escaping in the chimp-powered plane until crashing in a train yard in France. They were then alerted by the sound of police sirens, making them run for it.

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