Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

At an antiquated suburban L.A. movie theater, restless young minds of tomorrow unceasingly fidget in their seats at an early afternoon showing of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. During the millisecond breathers between frenetic location changes and jarring musical shifts, moms and dads desperately attempt to accommodate their little ones’ popcorn wishes and bathroom necessities.

 The zippy-paced-action demanding PG-13 audience twitches and squirms excitedly, and the wild gang of comical zoo friends that we know so well are in an entirely different location this time, and of course, they’re dancing to the tunes of a wide-ranging repertoire of music. Twitch… Monte Carlo… twitch… opera at the Roman Coliseum… twitch… France with Edith Piaf who’s singing and dodging bananas—Matrix style.

Five minutes into the movie and Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer), and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) have gone from Africa to Monte Carlo in search of the penguins to take them back to New York. However, I regrettably blinked at one point in the beginning, missing the explanation as to why the penguins had gone to Monte Carlo in the first place. Not a problem, though, as the story quickly changes its focus to a villainous Animal Control woman, Captain DuBois. She’s hunting down the gang all through Europe, and this gives you, the viewer, no time at all to think. We don’t have time to ponder the inner meaning of the penguins’ voyage, it’s go, go, go, action!

But how do a lion, giraffe, hippo, zebra, and some penguins and lemurs all manage to lay low in Europe? Well duh, they join a circus! There, King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) meets the love of his life (a woman bear substantially larger than the little fellow) and we meet the overly dramatic and comical Stefano the sea lion (Martin Short), Gia the jaguar-trapeze (Jessica Chastain), and the amazing, Vitaly the tiger (Bryan Cranston), who can jump through a tiny hoop the size of an engagement ring.

This action-PACKED wild adventure, surely made for those with an attention span of a gerbil, brings a mediocre plot with insanely creative gusto. My brain is still trying to process all the psychedelic colors illuminating the visually dazzling circus scenes. But, wow, I must confess that with Katy Perry’s enchanting “Fireworks” and the spectacular “Non, je ne regretted rien”, sung by Captain DuBois, my soul was sold and branded: prisoner to Hollywood’s modern turbo-action-packed dreary plots, I enjoyed myself immensely despite the flaws.

Second confession: I’m weak at the knees when it comes to that furry little mouse-lemur’s huge sparkling eyes and absolutely hilarious facial expressions. How could anyone not love the guy? It almost feels like DreamWorks is cheating by making such adorable characters—who cares about the storyline when you’ve got these guys to entertain you? It was a nice blend of clever jokes, slapstick comedy, and important messages of friendship and life. This film won’t be winning any screenwriting awards, but it’s pleasant enough for an afternoon with the kids.

I don’t know whose voice is more hysterical: Chris Rock as Marty the Zebra or Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien. But, as a huge fan of Francis McDormand’s work, I’ll have to say that her character, Captain Dubois, was the best in the film: insanely funny with her unbelievable stunts and spider crawling techniques. In all, I’d say every actor in the film deserves recognition for their applauding voice performances. 

Hands down to the creative team at DreamWorks for the sensational animation, hilarious characters and good taste in music: I totally forgive the incredibly rushed attempt at camouflaging the old and clichéd plot formula. Hardly a minute at all to breathe, but, also, hardly a minute at all to stop laughing.