Saturday, July 20, 2013

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Very rarely does an animated trilogy do well...normally it's either the first installment trying out the waters, the 2nd one trying to recreate the magic of the first, or the 3rd one failing miserably to do either.
However, such is not the case for the Madagascar trilogy from Dreamworks. Each of the films was delightfully funny, throwing their characters into the oddest and funniest of situations, with the 3rd installment "Europe's Most Wanted," garnering the most laughs and the most spectacle out of all the other films.
It picks up pretty much where the last one left off with the New York zoo animals waiting for the penguins to come back in their crazy monkey-powered plane from Morocco with gambling winnings. Getting fed up with waiting, they decide to go their themselves to pick the nutty penguins up.
This goes about as well as expected.
Hijinks ensue and one of THE funniest chase sequences I've ever seen is done with our protagonists and the head of the animal control police (which is essentially what happens when you mix the Terminator with the animal-trapping guy from "Over the Hedge"...but absolutely nothing pathetic about her!).
Since they're now on the lamb, they seek refuge with a bunch of circus animals who've fallen on hard times. That being said, Alex being the showman he is cannot stand this effrontery to fabulousness! Him and his crew do his best to spruce up the circus all in order to get back to New York City, and it. Is. Awesome!
What I really like about this movie is how they show the progression of these characters, with the introduction of these shallow, spoiled animals getting tossed out of their comfort zone, with most character growth happening in the 2nd movie, and all the payoff from the previous 2 films culminating in the most well-rounded characters who are still quite funny.
Overall, this film is the last layer on the Madagascar cake and it is delicious.

Hard to believe such a memetastic, earwormy song was ad-libbed. Mad props Chris Rock.

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