Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

I did not have high hopes walking into the latest Madagascar movie. The original was amusing, yet not very memorable. And the 2008 sequel was largely a dull retread that did not fix the problems from the first time around. And yet, I found myself enjoying Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted a great deal. The jokes are funnier, the action and pace is tighter, the 3D effects are quite literally dazzling (a big surprise for me), and the movie finally has something that the first two films were lacking - a villain who poses a real threat to the animal characters.

As we rejoin Alex the lion (voice by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett-Smith), they are still stranded in Africa, and dreaming of returning home to the Central Park Zoo. Their covert-minded penguin friends have made their way to Monte Carlo, so that they can scam and rig the casino games in order to raise enough money to buy a plane that they can use to fly back to New York. When it looks like the penguins might not be coming back, Alex and his friends make their way to Monte Carlo as well to look for them. To make a long story short, the escaped animals are discovered by the tourists during their mission, and this brings about animal control officer, Chantel DuBois (a wonderful Frances McDormand), who has a passion for mounting animals heads on her wall, and zeroes in on Alex, since she has yet to have a lion's head in her trophy collection. Chantel appears to be human, but I think she may be part-Terminator, due to her ability to smash through walls and buildings in her pursuit of the animals, without slowing down.

After a daring, hilarious, and beautifully animated car chase sequence (yes, those penguins do know how to drive an escape car), Alex and his friends realize that they need to lie low, and board a circus train in order to escape the law. There, they meet a group of circus animals that bring a lot of personality to the franchise. They include Vitaly (Bryan Cranston), a tiger with a haunted past, Gia the leopard (Jessica Chastain), who is the first to warm up to the stowaways, and the goofy Stefano the sea lion (Martin Short). These characters, along with Chantel, bring a lot of humanity and, in Chantel's case, menace that has previously been missing. There are some sweet moments as Alex and Gia begin to develop a shy relationship, and with a genuine threat added, I finally cared about these animals in a way I hadn't before.

I would not exactly call Madagascar 3 a plot-heavy movie, but there are enough subplots so that the side characters don't go to waste. I especially enjoyed the plot about the lemur King Julian (Sacha Baron Cohen) romancing the giant circus bear, which gets some of the film's biggest laughs. While the characters may not be as memorable as the ones you'll find in a standard Pixar feature, they are immensely likable, and the screenplay gives everybody a moment or two to endear themselves to us. But what really took me by surprise are the film's visuals. This is a stunning looking film, even in 3D. Yes, me, the guy who usually views 3D with a great level of disgust, found myself wowed by the effects here. The visuals during the film's climactic moments almost had me wanting to see it again. This is the rare instance where the enhanced ticket price is actually worth it.

There's no doubt that this movie will go over huge with kids. The bright colors, rapid-paced jokes, and visual spectacle will make sure of that. But, to my surprise, I think adults will walk out of this one pleased as well. Maybe screenwriters Eric Darnell and Noah Baumbach really took a close look at what the earlier films were missing, and understood how to tell this story and use these characters in a way they should have been used from the beginning. All I know is that I found myself more involved this time around, and enjoying myself a lot more. This is a well-executed movie all around, right down to the soundtrack, which manages to use a collection of well known pop songs, and not make it intrusive.

I'm really not sure if a Madagascar 4 could or should be made, given how this film ends. Perhaps it would be best if the filmmakers ended the franchise on such a high note. Should the movie become a big enough hit over the summer to inspire another sequel (and there's little doubt it should and will), I hope they use the lessons learned here. Madagascar 3 is simply a lot of fun.

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