It seems like each year there is all this hype building for
whatever new Pixar film is going to be released. Like Pixar is this grand event
of pop culture while DreamWorks is there constantly pushing out
entertaining little franchises all throughout the year. DreamWorks has movies that make sequel after sequel and even spawn Nickelodeon cartoons. And that’s
what we have here this week with Madagascar
3 one of these quiet DreamWorks franchises that they can constantly bring
out so we have the continuing adventures of Central Park Zoo animals as they
traverse the globe even further.
It basically starts right where we left them in Madagascar 2, in Africa living the life of wild animals. The
Penguins with their super plane go off to Monaco with the chimps to hit the
casinos with all the treasure they found and get super rich. While leaving they
tell our main crew that they aren’t coming back. That puts Alex in a state of
fear and depression; see he’s homesick for New York City and all the attention
he got from the public at the zoo.
So Alex decides to take Marty, Melman and Gloria to Monaco
to force the Penguins to take them back to New York City. That whole plan goes
completely awry and they all have to escape while this French Animal Control
woman, Captain Chantel Dubois, is put on the case of capturing them, but she plans to kill Alex the lion since that is the only animal she hasn’t killed
and mounted on her wall. During the escape their plane crashes and they end up
finding a Circus train where they trick the Circus animals into letting them on
by making them think they are also circus animals from America. From there
Alex’s goal is to help the circus become a hit so an American promoter can see
them so they can go home.
This movie really starts out slow. In the beginning it’s
kind of tedious and feels like they made this movies for kids who've watched Madagascar a 100
times at home and remember everything that has happened before. Madagascar 2 didn't just come out last week. But as it
gets to the part with the circus animals it starts to really start to be really
entertaining. Putting these characters in a new situation with new animals and
in a different type of captivity, which I must add has NO HUMANS gives it a
cool workplace sitcom feeling, like an anthropomorphic circus office.
There is a really strong performance sequence to the song Firework by Katy Perry that is really
nice and really shows off the talent of the filmmaking crew. It’s really
stunning and beautiful in its execution. All that being said this film isn’t a
super great piece of animated cinema that will bring in new heights of story or
make grown men cry. This movie though is fun and will make you laugh and kids
will love it from minute one to start of the credits. Plus you get to hear that Katy
Perry song for the one-millionth time.
