On the lam from the Central Park Zoo, Marty (voiced by Chris Rock), left, Alex (Ben Stiller), Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman (David Schwimmer) find themselves stranded on "Madagascar."

From voodoo in the bayou to animated antics off the coast of Africa, there's a wide range of DVD diversion on tap on ...

The big screen scene: Penguins and zebras and lions, oh my! Cartoon capers take four New York zoo animals on a one-way voyage to "Madagascar" (DreamWorks) in an animated romp featuring the voices of (among others) Chris Rock and Ben Stiller.

Meanwhile, down in swampy Louisiana, a hospice worker (Kate Hudson) caring for an elderly couple (John Hurt, Gena Rowlands) in a crumbling mansion encounters some major voodoo in "The Skeleton Key" (Universal).

Elsewhere on the recent-release front, "Top Gun" meets "2001" in "Stealth" (Sony), about a computerized fighter jet that goes renegade -- and takes aim at the elite Navy pilots (Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx) on its wing.

Leading today's art-house contingent, "Happy Endings" (Lions Gate) reunites "Opposite of Sex" writer-director Don Roos and co-star Lisa Kudrow for a tale of intertwined Los Angeles lives featuring Jesse Bradford, Bobby Cannavale, Steve Coogan, Laura Dern, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jason Ritter. Germany's "The Edukators" (Sony) follows three Berlin radicals who kidnap a rich businessman. And in France's "The Beat My Heart Skipped" (Wellspring), a gangster (Romain Duris) ponders a career switch -- to concert pianist.

Critic's choice: Harold Lloyd joins fellow immortals Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in the pantheon of silent clowns with "The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection" (New Line), with seven blissful discs chock full of digitally remastered slapstick, including such classics as "Safety Last" (1923) and "The Freshman" (1925).

And while you're waiting for next month's "King Kong" remake, celebrate the original's adventurous filmmakers, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, with DVD versions of two silent-era epics from Milestone: 1925's "Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life" (1925) and 1927's "Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness" (both from Milestone).

Flashing forward several decades, "Cet Amour-La" (New Yorker) stars the legendary Jeanne Moreau as novelist Margerite Duras. And the spoofy musical "Open House" (Wellspring) stars "Rent's" Anthony Rapp as an off-kilter real estate agent.

Hot docs: In case you missed PBS' "American Experience" two-parter devoted to Neon Nirvana (it concludes tonight), "Las Vegas: An Unconventional History" (Paramount) chronicles the desert outpost's transformation from "Sin City" to "American Mecca."

Elsewhere on the nonfiction front, documentarian Robert Greenwald ("Outfoxed") takes on "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" (Disinformation Co.), while "Jane Goodall: Return to Gombe" (Sony) follows Goodall back to the East African chimpanzee research station she first visited more than 40 years ago.

Kidvid corner: One of the all-time great kid-and-dog movies, 1957's "Old Yeller" (Disney), returns to DVD along with its 1963 sequel "Savage Sam."

Shifting from live-action to animation, "King Kong: The Animated Series, Vols. 1 and 2" (Classic Media) revives the cult '60s cartoon series. Also turning up on DVD: "A Bear Named Winnie" (Monarch), which recounts the true tale of the bear that inspired A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, plus "The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss: Fun With the Cat" (Sony).

TV transfers: "Da DVD! Da DVD!" Herve Villechaize never said that, of course, but he'd be shouting it today to herald the arrival of "Fantasy Island: The Complete First Season" (Sony).

Also, 'tis the season for box sets devoted to TV favorites, including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection" (Fox), a mammoth seven-season retrospective; "Friends: The One With All 10 Seasons Collector's Box" (Warner); and "Cheers: The Complete Seven-Season Pack" (Paramount).

Other titles joining the DVD fray today: "Andromeda, Vol. 5: Collection 2" (A.D. Vision), "Charmed: The Complete Third Season" (Paramount), "Cheers: The Complete Seventh Season" (Paramount), "Frasier: The Complete Seventh Season" (Paramount), "Friends: The Complete 10th Season" (Warner), "Golden Girls: The Intimate Portrait Series" (Warner), "Murder One: Season Two" (Fox), "Scrubs: Season 2" (Buena Vista), "Stargate Atlantis: Season One" (Sony), "That '70s Show: The Complete Third Season" (Fox) and "Three's Company: Season Five" (Anchor Bay).