After spending the last few years in the wilderness, Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman (Ben Stiller, The Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith and David Schwimmer) are back for Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted and have decided it’s time to go home to the Big Apple.
They end up with a traveling circus, making their way through Europe. Will they make it home? Will they run away with the circus? We say, kids will enjoy it, parents, not so much.
HOWE: This is the third installment for the franchise and its starting to feel a little old and the script is stretched thin. The good news, kids will still love it and it does have one or two funny moments.
TAYLOR: I haven’t seen either of the first two of these, so I came in knowing nothing. It seemed like a fine movie, a little cheeky. Sort of typical for these types of things. A few timely pop references, plenty of slapstick. Some more adult references, none of them particularly funny.
HOWE: King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) is still a blast. Every time he is in a scene, he steals it. He is my all time favourite cartoon character, and I’ve seen a lot in the past 40 years. It feels they gave him a little more free reign with the script this time. I found the love interest for King Julien very amusing.
TAYLOR: There’s lots of talent involved, many guest voices, two Oscar nominees, two oscar winners and Andy Richter. However, for me the real star of this film was the 3D, best use of 3D this year. Despite the action petering out at the three-quarter mark, there was still a lot of it, chases especially. The animation also was interesting, although somewhat cheap looking, at times backgrounds reminded me of Google Earth, it was well directed. They animated it to look like an action film.
HOWE: When I showed my little boy the trailer to Madagascar 3 at the beginning of the year, he couldn’t wait to see it. So when I told him on Sunday we were going to see it that afternoon, he was very excited. And by the sounds of his laughter he really enjoyed it. He kept slapping my arm and saying, “Daddy did you see dat?”
TAYLOR: I think you hit the nail on the head. Robot voice:
HOWE: In the end, it’s a kid’s movie. Will they enjoy it? Yes. Will parents enjoy it? Maybe. Or you could just have a nap.
Taylor gives Madagascar 3 2.5 D’s out of five. Howe gives it 2.5 polkadot zebras out of five.
This film is showing at the Pen Mar Cinema Centre in Penticton.
Brian Taylor and Peter Howe are movie reviewers that live in the Okanagan.