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Posted June 5, 2012 by Earl Maghirang in Movies/TV
 
 

MOVIE REVIEW: Madagascar 3 – Europe’s Most Wanted

Reviewing Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted from Solar-UIP

The film stars Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Chris Rock, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Bryan Cranston, Jessica Chastain, Martin Short and Frances McDormand.

The new film brings back the original cast together with a bunch of new characters. We still have Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo. The gang leaves the confines of Africa in search of their penguin friends (Skipper and the rest). Tagging along with them are King Julien (Cohen) and his assistants Maurice (Cedric) and Mort.

During a failed nab-and-grab attempt, they are come into contact with Capt. Chantel Dubois (McDormand) who becomes obsessed with catching Alex and adding his head in her trophy room. To escape certain death, they tag along a circus and meet new friends like Vitaly the Tiger, Gia the Jaguar and Stefano the sea lion.

So down to business…

The movie follows a tried-and-tested formula in terms of structure. Most of the animated features do this nowadays. Heroes have selfish motivations, learns to love their situations and when things tend to settle, somebody screws them and throws a wrench on the gears. They reflect, change their minds, team up and then do something spectacular to end the film. Can’t blame them, its a kids movie. Kids won’t understand any of the complicated stuff we adults love to watch in our “grown up” movies.

Saying this, the movie is fun. Everybody present during the press screening was laughing due to a number of hilarious scenes. This proves point A – that the movie is enjoyable by the kids and their parents. Bring a date and share a good laugh or bring your kids and share some quality time with them in the theater.

As usual you can have your pick for this film whether or not you want to see this in 3D is completely up to you. Remember though that there are quite a number of scenes from Madagascar 3 that will work extremely well with the help of stereoscopic 3D. Splashing water falls or even a faux-bullet time scene are some of the prime examples of things like this.

While the older characters deliver a couple of punchlines throughout the movie, I can honestly say that its still Ben Stiller’s show. Heck even Chris Rock managed to deliver only a handful of great moments. Cohen’s King Julien on the other hand is another scene stealer. From looking for attention to finding a new love interest, everything is funny for this lemur.

The music used in this movie is quite “cute”. There’s a touch of classic rock together with some even older European songs and a dash of pop. If you’re a fan of Christopher Nolan’s Inception, you’d be happy to know that some themes from that movie managed to get tangled in this animated flick. Most importantly, there’s Katy Perry’s Firework.

Overall I’d say that this is a good movie. Perfect for the weekend and most importantly perfect for the whole family. If you’re a movie geek thats just looking for a different kind of movie away from Spider-Men and Avenging Marvel heroes, then you will definitely enjoy this.

That said here’s the verdict:

4.5/5

And from the bottom of our hearts we’d also like to thank the guys and gals from Solar-UIP for the invitation.


Earl Maghirang