Is Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted the funniest of the franchise? That’s subjective, but I do know a couple of things. The first is that my kids loved it. They laughed and laughed and laughed. I laughed too. Another thing is it ends – as in, there is an ending that will satisfy those of us who watched the first two film wondering how this would all end.
If you haven’t watched the previous two films, you might be wondering why this is referred to as Madagascar – to which my reply would be to simply go and watch the first two films. The rough storyline has 10 animals (4 friends – lion, hippo, giraffe, zebra and along with 4 penguins and 2 chimpanzees), break out of the Central Park Zoo looking to get a taste of what life is like outside of captivity, and wind up instead in Madagascar. They pick up a trio of characters that are even more crazy, wind up on the main continent of Africa, and… well, that’s sort of where the 3rd film picks up.
One of the things I enjoyed about the franchise was its use of secondary characters. The chimpanzees virtually stole every scene they were in during the first movie, but in Madagascar 3 they have almost what amounts to a cameo appearance. Even though it is the longest of the three movies (by a few minutes) there wasn’t enough of an opportunity created to keep all the old characters juggled well enough and integrate them with the new ones. Yes, King Julian (Sacha Baron Cohen) was a breakout figure, but it’s almost like he’s beginning to be the star of the series.
As the title suggests, the animals find their way off of the African continent and into Europe. There they meet up with a circus, which of course has a new group of animals for them to interact with. Everything is crazy, right from the start, and that might be a bit off-putting if you’re not familiar with the franchise. The thing is, the first film set it up nicely ramping up the insanity at a decent and believable (for the film universe these characters inhabit) pace. While the opening of Madagascar 3 requires a massive suspension of disbelief, it’s not that large after the events of the first two. Sure, it’s ridiculous, but that’s where the franchise was headed, and if you didn’t see that coming, you weren’t paying attention.
I still take issue with the animation style, which I find too “blocky” but to have the style change at this point would be not only pointless, but almost offensive. you can see the economy of line use in the animals which I appreciate. There is a sequence about 2/3 of the way through that features almost nothing but a solid background for a montage scene – and that seemed like a cost-cutting measure more than a stylistic decision. I do wish I had the 3D version of the Blu-ray at least for this sequence though.
Special features are plentiful, starting with a picture in picture feature that offers up a very good look behind the scenes of the film with storyboards, interviews and more. There is also a separate audio commentary as well, but I didn’t check it out – I assume some of the information will be the same, but without the visuals of the picture in picture, there will be some audio only style information dispensed.
A couple of incomplete deleted scenes are an interesting look at the creative process, as is the 15 minute featurette that basically looks at the production day. Take the time to check it out. Another featurette isn’t as long and focuses on the voice acting. A little less worthwhile, but interesting enough to watch if so inclined. There is a very short 3 or 4 minute “round table” with the main voice cast, and it’s painfully short. There’s also a pop-up trivia track which the kids will mostly be interested in. I will not count the game and musical montage as actual special features.
If you’ve watched the first to Madagascar films, there is no reason to pass up on this one. There are some decent Blu-ray features making it well worth buying over the DVD.