Best of the lot

Rating: 8/10 (29 October 2012)

The mismatched menagerie is back for its third outing, still trying to return to the New York Zoo. On this occasion, pursuing the aeroplane which the penguins and monkeys have taken to Monte Carlo, they make the mistake of attracting the attention of rabid French animal cop Mme Dubois. In an attempt to escape her, they attach themselves to a travelling circus where, initially, they are not very welcome. Mme Dubois, however, has not given up...
I never cared for the main characters in the first film: Ben Stiller's anxious lion and Chris Rock's hyper-intrusiveness irritated me, and David Schwimmer's giraffe revisited all the aspects of Ross's whiny personality which had grated on my nerves so severely. I found the second film an improvement, and I liked this one more still. The circus animals add some welcome variation, the story is fast paced, Dubois is a well-realised (and much-needed) villain, the character dynamics are good, and the whole thing is a visual feast with some dazzlingly realised action set-pieces.
This movie brings the series to a satisfying end. I hope they resist the urge to add a further instalment to a series which come to a pleasing conclusion.
The 3D is first rate, and adds immeasurably to some of the sequences.