Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett Smith braved the weather to join lions and penguins at the premiere of the second Madagascar instalment.

Umbrellas were out in force to cover the stars of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

Stiller who plays Alex the dancing lion, is back for the sequel of the 2005 hit cartoon and is once again joined by US comedian, Chris Rock, who plays Melvin the zebra.

Stiller said it was a lot easier second time around: "It was fun. The first time around was sort of an exploration.

"Doing an animated movie for the first time was a bit of a process so this time around it was fun because we had seen the first movie, we could visualise what it was going to look like.

He said he also enjoyed working in the voice booth with co-star Chris Rock.

"It was really fun because he is so good and to see him improvise, it was very inspiring. A little bit intimidating because he comes up with funny lines. His ratio of funny lines he comes up with is much more than mine," he said.

In the second film, the gang are trying to get back to a New York Zoo but crash land in the African plains.

The film opens in cinemas in the UK at the beginning of December.

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