At New York's Central Park Zoo, a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a hippo are best friends and stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing from their cage, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited ... on a ship en route to Africa. When their vessel is hijacked, however, the friends, who have all been raised in captivity, learn first-hand what life can be like in the wild.

At one point, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez and Gwen Stefani were considered for the voice of Gloria the Hippo before Jada Pinkett Smith signed on.

Alex the Lion:
The wild? Are you nuts? That is the worst idea I have ever heard!


Melman the Giraffe:
It's unsanitary!


Marty the Zebra:
The penguins are going, so why can't I?


Alex the Lion:
Because the penguins are psychotic!

Revealing mistakes: The crates are stacked on the deck with Gloria's crate at the bottom. The crates all appear to be of the same depth, and when seen from outside they appear to be stacked neatly, but there's still light coming into Gloria's crate from the hole in the top even though the hole should be covered by one of the crates stacked on top of hers.

Written by John Barry & Don Black
Performed by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By Arrangement with SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT