Movie rating: 3 Star

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

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Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Gloria (Jada-Pinkett Smith) and Melman (David Schwimmer) are back and still very much in Africa, waiting on the scene-stealing Penguins to return with an airplane to take them home to New York. Getting antsy, the group end up following the Penguins to Monte Carlo, where scary animal hunter Captain DuBois (Frances McDormand) begins to keep track of their movements. So they all stow away on board a circus train, which they find out is heading to New York, via Rome and London. However, the only way they get to stay on board is to become performing circus animals themselves…

Never in my life have I witnessed a film with such energy; it just keeps going and going, like it’s fuelled by pure sugar and Red Bull, too giddy and kinetic to remain in one place for too long, bouncing from one character or set-piece to the next with absolutely no downtime in between. Madgascar 3 is all exploding colours with stuff constantly coming at you in 3D; if you don’t have the stamina to keep up, you’ll leave the screen absolutely exhausted.
As per usual, the centre foursome carry the story but aren’t particularly funny, leaving the laughs to come from the ever expanding cast of secondary characters; original supporters Sacha Baron Cohen’s still brilliant King Julian (who falls in love with a bear, one of the films best side-plots), Andy Richter’s Mort, and Cedric The Entertainer’s Maurice are now joined by Bryan Cranston’s circus-leading tiger Vitaly, Jessica Chastain’s sultry leopard Gia and Martin Short’s adorable sea-lion Stefano. What’s more, Frances McDormand’s Captain DuBois can now be added to the ranks of Ursula and Cruella DeVil as a great female cartoon villain.

The biggest problem with this movie is that it doesn’t seem to really be about anything; there’s no big underlying message here. There are some vague notions about “working together as a team” and “taking charge of your own life”, but they all seem pretty half-hearted compared to the work put into the visuals. While it’s not always necessary for a movie to do anything more than entertain, not having a proper lesson to give to the kids here definitely felt like a missed opportunity.

Review by Rory Cashin | 09:00 | Friday 19th October 2012 | Movie Review

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Comments

• Cesco Mazzotta

  Dear Rory. I would think that any parents with commons sense would worry about educating their children and would not expect a movie to do it on their behalf, even partially. It is exactly pure entertainment that a 3 years old is looking for (or a 40 years old like me) and not any deep message. Perhaps I think you have missed an opportunity here to celebrate this movie exactly for what it is, pure funny entertainment with no strings attached.

  Posted 23:38 | Thu 11th Oct 2012

• OneDloverxoxo

  I went to see it :) it is soooo good and soooooo funny :D i would recommend it :)

  Posted 10:05 | Tue 30th Oct 2012

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