Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted’ is an adorable, fun, adventure for the whole family, with some minor setbacks. The 3D version of the film pops out with florescent colors, shapes and stunts, which kids are sure to love. The biggest set back is the storyline, in the sense that kids will surely want to go pay a visit to the circus thinking it’s a place where wild animals belong and this idea I can’t endorse; unless the parents are conscious enough to explain that this movie is the best way to enjoy that experience.

In the third installment of this successful franchise the four friends that were stranded in Madagascar: Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria de hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer); decide they miss the big city where they came from, NYC and it is time to return home. First they must take a detour through Europe with the help of the two lemurs King Julien XIII (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer). The only way they can safely do that, so that an evil animal control officer Capitaine Chantel DuBois (France McDormand) doesn’t catch them is by joining a traveling circus. Here we are introduced to a couple of thrilling new characters, including Stefano the Italian Sea lion (Martin Short).  

The movie is filled with funny moments and a lot of entertaining action, including the chase scenes in Monte Carlo. This animated film is so keen on detail that is hard not to appreciate the beautiful shots, such as the ones taken in the streets of Rome with precise images of the Coliseum, the Vatican and Capitoline hill. The light show in the last sequence is hypnotizing with all the colors and shapes. The soundtrack is full of upbeat music, which adds more entertainment to the film.

Capitaine Chantel DuBois is one of the best evil characters I’ve seen in a children’s movie, she is a combination of animals inside a superhuman which makes her unstoppable and unmatchable; obviously great work on McDormand part as well as the animation crew. All the original characters are just as quirky and silly as in the past movies, specially Rock and his character Marty; Stiller’s lion is still the brains behind it all, Pinkett Smith’s hippo is the “mom” – as she described in our interview- and voice of reason to all specially to Schwimmer’s giraffe. Short’s Stefano the sea lion is my favorite new character and Bryan Cranston’s tiger Vitaly is not far behind.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie because of the captivating animation and job well done by the actors. My biggest fear is that it might represent the wrong idea as what a circus that has animals is like, wild animals do not belong in a circus and they are not meant to entertain humans. That point being made clear by this reviewer, I hope people keep that in the back of their minds and opt instead to enjoy this movie for what it is, a fictional work that doesn’t represent at all what a real animal circus hides behinds the scenes.