Third time isn't the charm here...

Rating: 3/10 (29 June 2013)

Remember poor old Quasimodo trudging around Notre Dame. lamenting about "THE BELLS, THE BELLS!"|? I was like that during the majority of this film, hands on my ears chanting "THE NOISE, THE NOISE!!" Everyone involved in this production needs a serious dose of Ritalin, as nearly every scene is in-your-face screaming and shouting, while extracts from pop songs blare away meaninglessly in the background and chaos reigns on screen, to no great effect. Proof positive that you can have all the pandemonium and hubris you want, but they're no match for good old fashioned storytelling and appealing characters, both of which are in short supply here.
I was no great fan of the two prequels to this, but both were better than this. In fact, if you liked them, you'll probably love this... Since it takes all the things I hated in the first couple of entries, and multiplies them. So, you have even more shrill, hyperactive running about trying to pass off as humour, tons more jokes so weak they make Walter The Softy look like He-Man, and plenty more of a stupid plot which I couldn't have given tuppence about. Yes, there is a new vaguely amusing female hunter bad 'guy' whose bizarre antics provoke a few smiles, and the megalomaniac band of penguins are always a delight. But the meagre good points are sucked in like a bottomless quagmire by the litany of flaws, until the whole thing just stinks.
PLEASE no fourth one. Haven't we had enough already? 3/10