An animated odyssey

Rating: 8/10 (10 June 2012)

The films of the Madagascar franchise link together in a way rarely seen in the new age of cinema. Sequels tend to usually take place "x" amount of years after their predecessor, but here, it seems that each film picks up not long after the first previous one ends. I recommend to parents that if they find nothing to do on a specific day, then watching all three films of the Madagascar franchise in a row (since they're all relatively simple, fast watches at no more than eighty minutes a film) would be an ideal exercise.
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is an unlikely sequel because, like its predecessor, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the film improves from its original, a rather kinetic and unusually rambunctious animated film. After rewatching both films to prepare myself for this excursion, I was very surprised at my reactions towards both. I haven't seen each film in their entirety since both of their theatrical release weekends, and my views on each film sort of swapped. When I originally watched them, I found the original Madagascar to be a smooth and satisfying picture, while I sort of gave the second film the colder shoulder. My views have directly changed, and I think the opposite of both pictures.
The third film provides us with some of the same things we've seen prior to this outing, but also adds some new elements with confidence. Our heroes have been through so much, that if you've seen the first two films, it's hard not to feel some sympathy while watching this one. Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) open the film, still stranded in the sunlit fields of Africa awaiting the return of the four penguins and the two monkeys who took off to Monte Carlo in another junkyard plane to visit the luxurious casinos. They make the simple, painless trip to Monte Carlo to try and recover them to make it home to their zoo in New York City.
Once there, they make a big spectacle at a casino, similar to how they created ruckus at Grand Central Station in the original film, and the animals, monkeys, penguins, and King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) along with his two sidekicks, Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer) and Mort (Andy Richter) immediately capture the attention of the Monaco Animal Control officer Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand). After breathlessly chasing them through the streets of London, the heroes manage to escape in a car-turned-plane to France, where the four zoo animals manage to hitch a ride with a traveling circus.
Bear with me here, as I'm having a truly difficult time summarizing this coherently. The four wind up purchasing the deed to the circus, and then realize that it's a rundown hack of an event, with has-been acts and a stubborn lion named Vitaly (Bryan Cranston), whose act of jumping through rings as small as an engagement band cost him his luscious fur coat and left him with a morose outlook on life. The four learn that if they manage to get an American sponsor to invest in the circus, they could potentially return home to New York City as an act.
This then spawns a frenetic and rambunctious journey through all formulas of animated films, from heart, to chaos, to adventure, to sentimentality, to ruckus, etc. While the original film seemed concerned with bringing manic sensibilities to the screen and the second film the sentimental and somewhat saddening side of the screenplay to light, Madagascar 3 seems determined to blend the two personalities. As convoluted and as desperate as it sounds, it actually makes for a very convincing ride.
Probably the most entertaining part is during the latter half of the second act when the animals put on a beautifully choreographed sound-and-light show in London to the music of Katy Perry's infectiously over-played anthem "Firework." While this perhaps isn't the most coherent animated film in a long time, being very sketchy, jumbled, and very, very springy in its narrative, it has its heart in the right place, and, let's face it, these characters, by the end of this movie, come off as likable scamps. Perhaps it's because I grew up with them, but even to a cynic, they manage to summon a smile to my face. For a series once reliant so heavily on hyperactive instincts and bathroom humor, it has matured and came of age nicely. Hopefully, so have most of the film's original fans.
Voiced by: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Frances McDormand, Bryan Cranston, Jessica Chastain, and Martin Short. Directed by: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, and Conrad Vernon.