See it in 3D for sure!

Rating: Null/10 (20 June 2012)

I took my 5 year old to see Madagascar 3 and he really enjoyed it. The film is pretty much along the lines of the first two with Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman trying to find a way to get to their true home at the zoo in the Big Apple. The film is a fast paced 90 minutes and the jokes come pretty rapid fire. There's enough laughter for both kids and adults and some cute visual gags.
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. The best thing that Madagascar achieves is that it out does it's trailer and is most definitely in league with the first two installments of the trilogy. Some are saying this is the best of the three, but Bruno Wang disagrees. I feel pretty strongly that the first Madagascar stands as the best.
In Madagascar 3, the gang, Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), while still in Africa, decide that they are no longer going to wait for the penguins, who have gone to Monte Carlo with jewels to gamble. The four main characters travel to Monte Carlo and get discovered where they then begin the chase across Europe to try and escape Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand). In the process of trying to hide out, the main characters join a run down traveling circus where they ultimately help the circus to reinvent itself and earn a ticket back to New York City to put on a performance.
The plot is well balanced and the new circus characters, which are the cheetah girl Gia, a Russian tiger named Vitaly and Stefano (Martin Short) as the sea lion add depth to the movie. There are even some developing relationships that come from the new mix of characters leading one to wonder if a Madagascar 4 might be in the works.
As in the first 2 films, Sacha Baron Cohen plays the wacky King Julien and his repertoire of comedy stays true to the first films. In Madagascar 3, King Julien falls madly in love with a tricycle riding circus bear and some of the better jokes and sight gags come from this unusual relationship. One interesting item of note is that the circus bear is the only animal that does not actually talk. All of the other circus animals speak but the bear just growls and grunts.
All in all this is a solid addition to the trilogy and it will be interesting to see if it is kept that way or if a successful outing will lead to a potential 4th. Most franchises die with a number 4 so we will see.
The basic themes of friendship and sticking together through thick and thin and banding together to fight the bad guy and never giving up are all the solid story lines that offer something meaningful to the kids. The rest is just some good humor and cute sight gags and the music is modern (Katy Perry and some 90s pop) as well as the soon to be rehashed "Afro Circus"...much like "I Like to Move It" will be a big hit with kids.
I give this movie a Bruno Wang 4 stars out of 5. It is a fun and visually pleasing 90 minute romp. The characters are strong and the new characters add depth to the film. Definitely see the 3D version if you can...it is worth the couple extra bucks.