Wesley Lovell said in
his review, “Seven years ago, DreamWorks launched one of its most successful
film franchises. Starring the inhabitants of a New York City zoo who go out for
a night on the town, but end up trapped on a boat to Madagascar, our quartet of
disparate critters have faced numerous challenges including a flight from
Madagascar into the heart of Africa four years ago.” Now, they continue trying
to return to New York City, this time landing in the Riviera and joining a
local circus trying to rum from a murderous animal control agent from France.
Lovell noted, “Madagascar
3 is a madcap adventure that adds a number of compelling new characters to the
cast of the prior two films. Forming the base of the group, the familiar voices
of Ben Stiller as the pampered lion Alex, Chris Rock as the flighty zebra
Marty, David Schwimmer as the hypochondriac giraffe Melman and Jada Pinkett
Smith as the feisty hippo Gloria each add the kind of familiarity that warmly
greets you after a long absence.” These are the friends you always were fans of
even if you rarely see them. In Africa, these four were joined by Sacha Baron
Cohen as the moronic, narcissistic lemur King Julien, Cedric the Entertainer
voices his smart, close lemur adviser Maurice, Andy Richter as a simple-minded
lemur named Mort, and a gang of penguins voiced by Tom McGrath, Chris Miller,
John DiMaggio (who isn’t in this film) and Christopher Knights.
While there are new
characters introduced in the second film, none of them really show up in the
third, but to replace them we have a crowd of interesting characters who have
got to make an appearance in successful sequels. Jessica Chastain voices the
beautiful jaguar Gia, Martin Short gives his crazy best to the funny seal
Stefano, and Bryan Cranston growls his way through the film as the Siberian
Tiger who gives one of the film’s main plotlines, mainly an accident years
before that scarred him physically and emotionally.
With the maturity of
Pixar defining much of the animation company in the last decade, many studios
are trying to make more adult-friendly stories while still pleasing to
children. The “Madagascar” franchise has wonderfully stayed a children’s film
series. There is humor abundantly for adults, but its youthful delight and
execution are exactly what the audiences’ need. I agree with Lovell when he
said, “Unlike the insipid Ice Age series, Madagascar keeps its heart on its
sleeve and continues to deliver engaging content without pandering to an
audience base that has become increasingly weary of it.”
While it may not have
the dignity of something like “Up,” “Wall-E” or even “Toy Story,” “Madagascar
3,” like the previous movies is an enjoyable and charming movie that audiences of
any age can enjoy without feeling they have to find some deeper meaning. Lovell
ended his review by saying, “This film preaches tolerance, acceptance and
perseverance, but doesn’t gear those lessons towards parents but to the
children who should be endlessly enthralled with its vibrant pallet and
entertaining characters.”
In my opinion, this is
the funniest of the trilogy. If you loved the first two, do not miss your
chance to see this one. You will be laughing continuously from beginning to end
and will love the way the story plays out. I give this a high recommendation.
If you think that is
the end, it’s not. Sure, there is a fourth one planned out, if there was a
spin-off that I will be looking at next week in the finale of “Madagascar
Month.”
No comments:
Post a Comment