Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Theatrical release poster

**Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted** is a 2012 computer-animated adventure comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation.

It stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bryan Cranston, Jessica Chastain, Martin Short, Paz Vega, and Frances McDormand. In this film, Alex, Marty, Michael, Melman and Gloria are pursued by a group of animal control officers led by Chantel DuBois while trying to return to New York and join a circus to avoid being captured.

## Plot

The story continues from the events of the second film. as the movie opens, the penguins, leaving in their monkey-powered plane tell Alex that they're never coming back to Africa - then he sees all his friends and himself have become terribly old waiting for them. He wakes up suddenly, realizing the whole event was just a dream, but is still miserable to be stuck in Africa.

Michael, Marty, Gloria, and Melman have built him a mud model of New York City in honor of his birthday, but it only makes the lion more homesick. He decides that the group should go to Monte Carlo, get the Penguins, and fly them back to New York City. Everyone agrees (Along with Thomas comes with).

In Monte Carlo, the Penguins and two chimpanzees, Mason and Phil (disguising as the King of Versailles), keep winning in gambling. Their plan is to come back for the group after this final win, while there get the penguins, Michael & Thomas sees an untrusted Mountain Lion named Zack but the Five's attempt to reach them blunders and starts chaos in the Hotel de Paris. The security calls Monaco Animal Control Captain Chantel DuBois to capture the animals, but she wants them (specifically Alex) dead as trophies. During a high-speed chase between the relentless DuBois and the animals in a truck driven by the Penguins to reach their aircraft, DuBois's four associates all end up injured, but DuBois keeps after the group. When they finally get to the plane, Michael's old-rival Storm arrives and meets the gang as Michael is stubborn to see him. Alex ask to Michael that how did he know him, and Michael asked that they both had a history. Dubois manages to get a wire hoop around Melman's neck and holds onto it even as the aircraft takes off. Storm chases them and grabs the rope Alex manages to cut the wire, and DuBois falls into a hotel's rooftop pool, and Michael kicks Storm and falls the the ground and survived. Storm tells Michael that this is war.

Above the skies of France, Thomas is enraged by Zack's behavior, who is entirely unapologetic for his deeds and blames him for the animal control now chasing us. the plane's engines fail again, and it crashes into a suburban train yard with the authorities closing in. Their only chance of escape is passage on the train of Circus Zaragoza, but the Russian tiger Vitaly will not let them on. However, when the Five desperately claim they are circus animals themselves, Stefano the sea lion and Gia, the jaguar, who Alex is smitten with upon first sight of her, let them come aboard.

When asked about their act, Alex says that he climbs onto his rock, roars, and jumps off. The circus animals seem unimpressed, and the group quickly "enhances" it -- Alex jumps off his rock towards a pool of aquatic cobras, then pulls up at the last second by igniting a jetpack, and then he releases balloons into the air for all the children of the world. Stefano thinks this must be "Trapeze Americano", and Gia seems to perk up when she hears this.

The animals soon learn from Stefano that they are performing two legs in Rome and London, where they plan to impress a promoter to get them on their first American tour. When Vitaly begins to threaten Alex, since stowaways are not allowed on the train, the penguins drop in through the ceiling and state their intentions to purchase the circus. The next day the chimps (again posing as the King of Versailles) offer the circus manager a bag of jewels for the circus deed. He and the human acts seem suspiciously delighted to sell the circus.

Meanwhile, while Thomas and Zack is exploring and started to went on his own like his traveler days, but he heard something unusual, he spots a figure coming towards him and attacks Thomas. but saved by Michael and attacks the figure, but the figure tackles him, pinned him to the ground. As Michael tries to sees the figure but the figure reveals to be Esmeralda the white mare, and she and Michael are reunited and she tells Michael that she misses him so much witch makes Thomas comfused.

Meanwhile, Julien encounters Sonya the Bear, a huge non-speaking brown bear who rides a tricycle. He falls in love with her, and they go on a city tour across Rome while the others are preparing for the performance at the Roman Coliseum. Unfortunately, during their escapades (which include knocking down ancient ruins and stealing the ring of a monarch), Sonya breaks her tricycle. Julian trades the ring he stole for a motorcycle to comfort her, and the pair zoom off just as DuBois arrives in Rome.

She spots Julian and Sonya and leaps onto a police motor scooter to follow; however, the scooter she is riding is chained to several other scooters and moves slower. She eventually loses control of the scooter and crashes into a fountain. Several police officers come to confront her, and she shoots each with a tranquilizing dart. However, when she comes to the last officer, she has run out of darts and is arrested.

To Alex's horror, the circus is awful; Vitaly moves his plastic hoop instead of jumping through it, Stefano swallows some of his juggling balls, and they hit people or other acts as he coughs them out, an elephant sits on a boy, and one of triplets get scared by the pop balloon and kicks one of the dancing dogs and knocked into a man's hot dog. The angered audience demands refunds to the point of chasing the circus to the departing train. Julian instructs Phil and Mason, who are not yet on the train, to simply throw him the money bags. They try, but the money ends up scattering all over the station. Though this serves as a distraction, and they escape the enraged people, the circus is left completely broke.

En route to London, Stefano reveals to Alex and Michael that Vitaly used to be their inspiration. Once a professional hoop jumper, he would perform physically impossible feats by dousing himself in olive oil to become slippery and leaping through increasingly smaller hoops. One day, however, he attempted to jump through a flaming pinkie ring. The highly flammable oil caused his fur to catch fire and destroyed his confidence; the other animals suffered from his example. An inspired Alex has the train stop at the Alps and convinces the performers to rework their previous act to become the opposite of the successful human-only Cirque du Soleil as an animal-only circus. Among the acts developed, Stefano and Marty train to be living cannonballs, Gloria and Melman develop a tightrope dance act, and Alex teaches Gia the beginner's level of "Trapeze Americano"; it is painfully improvised, but they both enjoy it and fall in love.

Meanwhile, DuBois was captured in Rome after causing problems with the local police officers, but she escapes and learns about her quarry. Once accomplished, DuBois recruits her injured men managing to revive them with a song. Sometime she meet up with Storm and he makes a alliance with him and Storm tells her about how to find Alex, and the zoosters as DuBois ask why is he helping her. Storm tells her the answer. "Revenge to against his Arch-rival Michael" and he tells DuBois that they shell destroy the zoosters together and tells her about his plan. as she asked him that what happened to him and Michael and he tell that this is why i come to her in the first place and he tells her about him and Michael, and told her his backstory. Storm was part of the zoo with his brother Thunder in Central park Zoo in New York. Thunder ran the business, Storm entertained. One day, Michael came along and shared his ideas with Thunder and Storm. Thunder didn't like the ideas, though Storm slightly did. Thunder had Storm go with him to destroy Michael. Michael prevailed and Thunder was crushed, as he slammed his huff in the wall, causing the wall to crumble. Michael banished Storm from the Zoo in New York and told him to never come back, but Storm hid in the old warehouse, his new kingdom, and he keeps watching for a long time in the shadows. He watched the zoosters captured by the police in grand central station, he follows them in the cargo ship and sees them fall into the ocean, he sees, Alex go wild and attacks Michael, Marty, Melman and Gloria, he sees Alex defeat King Fossa, he follows them on the plane and crash landed to africa and sees Makunga banished Alex, Zuba and Florrie to the outlands, he sees Alex, Marty, Michael, Melman, Gloria and the Lemurs to Europe and follows them.

and heads towards the Alps, forcing the circus (now going by the name Fur Power) to proceed to London despite their incomplete rehearsals. In London, the Penguins learn that the promoter has arrived, and Alex learns from Stefano that Vitaly wants to quit the circus. Alex confronts Vitaly, and after a while, the tiger realizes that he loved his act because it was impossible and made the decision he will perform, no matter what the outcome may be. Per Alex's suggestion, Vitaly opens the act by using a slippery conditioner instead of olive oil. Then, he leaps through the flaming pinkie ring to the crowd's delight, and the show is both spectacular and successful, with a killer light show and fantastic acts; Alex and Gia perform trapeze, Stefano and Marty are repeatedly blasted out of cannons, Melman and Gloria dance across multiple tightropes, Sonya the Bear rides her motorcycle with Julien, the dancing dogs "dance" on rocket-powered skates Kowalski designed, The Andalusian Triplets prance around wearing butterfly costumes, Michael & Thomas perform running and fliping like a lap in a race, and the elephants blow colored smoke, resembling fire at the audience. Both the audience and the animals have the times of their lives.

However, after the impressed promoter arranges for an American tour, Storm and DuBois shows up. The Penguins manage to blast him, DuBois and their companions out of the cannon, but Alex is forced to confess to the circus group about their zoo past and intentions to return there. The circus animals are so hurt, they turn their backs on them. The Penguins tearfully pretend to be just as surprised by this as the circus animals. After that, Michael and Alex were fighting and leaves the zoosters and went his own way alone (Along with Thomas). Meanwhile, Julian and Sonya fight and decide to leave her so he can be King of New York; however, neither are happy about his decision.

Finally, Michael with Thomas, the zoo animals with King Julien and circus animals (along with the Penguins, Chimps, Maurice, and Mort) arrive in New York City separately. While the circus finds that they are incomplete without the Four, when Michael went on his own, he finds that the zoo not as great as he actually remembered. That made him realise his mistake and miss his new friends espeically Esmeralda, And he decided to come back for Alex and the zoosters and apologizes to them, the zoosters finally returns to the closed Central Park Zoo and realizes that their time of freedom has changed them too much for them to return to captivity as the zoo no longer feels like home to them anymore. So they decide to go back to the circus, but unfortunately, they are all tranquilized by DuBois lead by Storm. but the The Zoo Staff suddenly appear and thank the annoyed DuBois for (they think) returning Alex the Lion.

Meanwhile Michael and Thomas saw Julien with a blow dart on his tail and tells them that Alex sees his friends captured and knocked out by Storm and Captain Chantel DuBois, the leader of the animal control, as they sent them back to the zoo, and made him realize for what he has done and goes to get help, but Thomas stops him and reminded him that the circus don't need them anymore but Michael refused. Just then he's been knocked to the ground by one of the animal controls accidentally and they chased him in the park. While their chasing on of the animal control Michael calls the remaining Zoo animals for back up. A tranquilized Julian manages to stumble back to the circus and tells Sonya he wants to stay with her. When the circus animals learn what has happened to the Four heard by Skipper, Gia suggests that they should help them but Esmeralda and her sisters remind that they lied to them and the dogs remind that they were not circus animals, but Vitaly refused and Gia remind Esmeralda use to be friends with Michael witch She agrees and goes after him but Zack tells them that Michael is not with his friends because of a fight with him and Alex.

As Michael and Thomas stopped and gets one of the controls cornered but the rest of the animal controls arrived and back him up and yet Michael & Thomas are started to attack them, because they are the only ones to save Alex and his friends. While they are fighting off the controls he runs into Storm as they had a lot of unfinished business with two rivals between him and Storm but interrupted by Vitaly as he Punches Storm so hard to save Michael, Michael was surprised to see his new circus friends and he apologises to them as they continued to battle the animal controls. And the rest of the zoo animals arrived to the battle but Michael sees on the them is missing and Roy the rhino responded that Burt the elephant having his trunk problem, yet Michael ask them to initiate Operation: Dog pile and they lost having trouble with the slingshot and accidentally falls on top of Thomas as Michael Shocked to see his brother hurt really bad, As Storm recovers by Vitaly's attack and he'll pay for that and retreats. and Michael, Esmeralda, Roy, the zoo animals and the rest of the circus animals gathered around Thomas as he about to die and felt guilty espeically Michael after he lost his own brother.

Later Michael brings Thomas' body to the medical vet center, there he sees Sharpal and he warns him that his brother is gone and Sharpal tells him brings Thomas to the table and knocks off Larry the Snake from Disney's The Wild as a cameo. Michael tells Sharpal fixing Thomas' body till he get's back, but Sharpal is confused by this and Michael tells him that he shall fix his mistake.

Back at the circus Michael ask Zack did he do what he asked, Zack responded that the pigeons saw the Zoosters in cages in their enclosure, and Michael tells Esmeralda and the circus animals that he shall lead the rescue mission, but first, he ask Kowalski to give him a bigger mech designed by the penguins.

Alex and the others wake up in their old habitats, now with tall chain-link fences, so they can't escape. and Storm goes to the Four an tells them that that Michael is dead and tells Alex the he will go first to kill by his new Partner DuBois. A ceremony is held in honor of DuBois arrives the zooster came in horror rescuing and returning Alex the lion "and three other animals" to the zoo. However, Alex watches DuBois load her dart gun with a poisoned dart and conceal the weapon inside an "Alex #1" glove. As She about to fire Alex Michael arrives on a mech to save the zoosters But Storm Orders DoBois to fire Alex. She fires at Alex, but just before the dart hits him, Michael Gives a signal Gia suddenly pulls him out of the way. and Storm was shocked.

The circus animals built a flying circus, called the "Operation: Afro Circus Rescue", and held up by multiple clumps of balloons and Storm is furious. Finally, the animals manage to stall DuBois long enough to rescue the Four, flinging her right through the brick wall of the reptile house. Alex apologies Michael for his actions. and Michael did as well However, as they start to pull away, they realize Stefano is still on the ground. Just as Michael gets Stefano, the mech's arm shot off by DoBois as she comes out of the ruins of the reptile house, followed by several cobras who slip into the Penguin's old habitat.

She grabs Stefano and slowly begins dragging him closer to her gun with the intent of killing him. Alex and Gia trapeze down and manage to grab Stefano, but DuBois is still holding on. Alex grabs DuBois and then lets go of the trapeze, leaving Gia and Stefano to swing back to safety.

The struggling pair tumble downwards toward the Penguin habitat, where the now-aquatic cobras are waiting. At the last second, however, two of the dancing dogs, flying on their rocket skates, grab Alex and pull him up. The lion drops an enraged DuBois in his habitat, where she is tranquilized by Maurice and Mort. after DoBois is defeat, Storm thinks that she is useless but goes after them and Michael stops him and Challenges him for a rematch for a death of Thomas. Storm begs for mercy and attempts to blame his crimes on DuBois; Michael spares his life but orders him to leave his friends alone and leave New York Ciry forever, but Storm attacks him again and gets on a mech from Michael attempts to destroy him and his friends. But saved by a revived Thomas and Michael kicks Storm witch the mech exploded and make Storm fell to the ground and knocked out unconscious, as Michael leaves Storm to the zoo keepers and he is defeated for good.

Deeply grateful for their new friends' help and now valuing their freedom, Michael give a victory kiss by Esmeralda and reunites with Thomas, Alex and his company decide to stay with the circus, and they all happily proceed on their American tour while Marty, Michael, Thomas, Esmeralda, Esperanza, Ernestina, and King Julien sing Afro Circus\I like to move it. As Alex asks Skipper regarding his disposal of DuBois and her crew, though the screen cuts to a freighter before Skipper could respond. It was revealed that DuBois and her men find themselves on a cargo box bound for Madagascar while bound and gagged for their repeated attempts of murder.

## Cast

* Ben Stiller as Alex
* Chris Rock as Marty
* Adam Sandler as Michael
* David Schwimmer as Melman
* Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria
* Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien
* Mark Hamill as Storm
* Frances McDormand as Chantel DuBois
* Nolan North as Thomas
* Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice
* Andy Richter as Mort
* Tom McGrath as Skipper
* Chris Miller as Kowalski
* John DiMaggio as Rico
* Christopher Knights as Private
* Jessica Chastain as Gia
* Bryan Cranston as Vitaly
* Martin Short as Stefano
* Paz Vega as Esmeralda, Esperanza and Ernestina
* Conrad Vernon as Mason
* Frank Walker as Sonya

## Reception

### Critical reception

Based on 130 reviews, the film holds an approval rating of 79% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Dazzlingly colorful and frenetic, *Madagascar 3* is silly enough for young kids, but boasts enough surprising smarts to engage parents along the way." This marks the best general review consensus of the film series that has shown improving critical favor; the original film has a score of 55%, and the sequel scores 64%. On Metacritic, it holds a score of 60 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."

Lisa Kennedy of *The Denver Post* gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and said, "From time to time the improbable occurs: A sequel outdoes its original." Colin Covert of *Star Tribune* said that *Madagascar 3* set a high standard for cartoon comedy and was almost too good for kids. He gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars. Giving the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, Betsy Sharkey of the *Los Angeles Times* said, "A neon-saturated, high-flying trapeze act with enough frenetic funny business that it's a wonder the folks behind this zillion-dollar franchise about zoo critters on the lam didn't send the animals to the circus sooner." Stephen Witty of the *Newark Star-Ledger* calls the movie "fun and fast family entertainment. […] the animals' jazzy circus performance, done in black-light colors and set to a Katy Perry song—may be one of the trippiest scenes in a mainstream kiddie movie since *Dumbo* saw those pink elephants." Film scholar Timothy Laurie writes that the plot development of *Madagascar 3* is "met with large servings of personal growth and side dishes of overcooked romance".

### Box office

*Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted* to earn $216,391,482 in North America and $530,529,792 in other countries for a worldwide total of $746,921,274 Its worldwide opening weekend totaled $137.6 million. Worldwide, it is the highest-grossing film in the film series, the fourth highest-grossing DreamWorks Animation film, the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2012, and the eighth-highest-grossing film of that year. Overall, it is the eleventh highest-grossing animated film and the 52nd-highest-grossing film of all time. The film took between 66 and 94 days of release, respectively, to out-gross its two predecessors. It surpassed *Kung Fu Panda 2* to become DreamWorks' highest-grossing non-*Shrek* film, and the first non-*Shrek* film to reach over $700 million.

In North America, the film made $20.7 million on its opening day, which was higher than the opening day grosses of the original film ($13.9 million) and its sequel ($17.6 million). For its opening weekend, the film ranked at the no. 1 spot, beating *Prometheus*, with $60.3 million, which was higher than the opening of the original *Madagascar* ($47.2 million) but was behind the opening weekend of *Escape 2 Africa* ($63.1 million). It remained at the top spot for two consecutive weekends. In North America, it is the highest-grossing film in the series, the sixth highest-grossing DreamWorks Animation film, the second-highest-grossing 2012 animated film, and the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2012.

Outside North America, *Europe's Most Wanted* out-grossed *Shrek Forever After* to become DreamWorks Animation's highest-grossing film. On its opening weekend, it topped the box office with $77.3 million from 28 countries. It held that position for three consecutive weekends. Its three highest-grossing openings occurred in Russia and the CIS ($15.7 million), China ($10.4 million), and Brazil ($10.1 million in 5 days). It set an opening-day record for animated films in Russia with $3.7 million (since surpassed by *Ice Age: Continental Drift*) and became the highest-grossing animated film (surpassed by *Ice Age: Continental Drift*) and the third-highest-grossing film ever (at the time), earning $49.4 million. It also set an opening-weekend record for any film in Argentina with $3.80 million (first surpassed by *Ice Age: Continental Drift*) and it set opening weekend records for animated films in Brazil, Venezuela, Trinidad, and the United Arab Emirates.

## Songs

*Main article: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted: Music From The Motion Picture*
* "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" - Sacha Baron Cohen (sung by Danny Jacobs on Soundtrack)
* "Wannabe" - Sacha Baron Cohen (sung by Danny Jacobs on Soundtrack)
* "Hot in Herre" - Sacha Baron Cohen (sung by Danny Jacobs on Soundtrack)
* "We No Speak Americano" - Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP
* "Non Je Ne Regrette Rein" - Frances McDormand
* "Love Always Comes As A Surprise" - Peter Asher
* "Silhouette" - Adam Sandler
* "Firework" - Katy Perry
* "Afro Circus/I Like To Move It" - Chris Rock & Sacha Baron Cohen (Sacha Baron Cohen is replaced by Danny Jacobs on Soundtrack)

## Transcript

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (Transcript)