3 Stars for the 3rd Installment of this Awful Franchise!

Rating: 1/10 (9 June 2012)

As bad as they are, I've been pretty lenient on Dreamwork's "Madagascar" franchise, for the most part. The first one was pretty awful; it was tedious, unfunny, and tried to shove that "Move It, Move It" song down our throats. The second one I remember enjoying. The jokes did improve, even at the expense of the story, but for a kid's movie, it was sub-par. The third movie takes what made the second movie such fun and ruins it! We spend about five minutes of the movie in Africa where the second movie left off before the animals SWIM TO MONTE CARLO. How? Only the half-baked minds of the writers could answer that...
When they arrive in Monte Carlo, they find the penguins and the monkeys have disguised themselves as the Prince of Versailles so they can get away with playing poker. Since I doubt your six year old kids know who the Prince of Versailles is, they will be utterly confused while your busy asking yourself "Why the heck would the Prince of Versailles be playing poker in Monte Carlo? This is the worst disguise ever!"
But, as you might have guessed, the animals are discovered, so a security guard calls in Captain DuBois of animal control to take care of them. And this is where I actually start to sort of enjoy myself. Captain DuBois is the only character with a clear motive and a likable personality. The way she's animated is quite hilarious and she has the best lines of dialogue in the entire movie. And how sad is that when a psychotic, obsessive woman is the most identifiable character in the movie.
The animals get away on their plane but the plane crashes. The animals sneak aboard a circus train. Here, we're introduced to Vitaly the Russian Tiger, Gia the Jaguar, and Stefano the Sea Lion. And here, I'm sorry to inform you, is where I end the plot synopsis because I honestly have NO IDEA what goes on afterwards. From there until the end of the movie is a jumbled, incoherent mess.
Final verdict: I apologize that this isn't a complete review, but I just don't have a clue what to say about the rest of the movie. My guess is that if you want to keep your kids quiet for about ninety minutes, then this is okay. But there are much better movies for them that'll do just that. If your a fan of the first two, you'll probably like this okay.