Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - Review

     The review of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is finally here! Released on June 8, 2012 by DreamWorks Animation Studios, Madagascar 3 has already earned $365,486,037 worldwide at the box office. With a reported production budget of $145,000,000, the film is still on it's way to a great financial success. The film also received mixed to positive reviews, but why should we care what critics say? 
     
     Characters and Story: Let's keep this simple and spoiler free shall we? As you know from the trailers, our main cast of characters has found their way to Europe and use a circus to get back to America, all while attracting the attention of the world's best Animal Control Officer, Captain DuBois. The film actually starts out in Africa and shows how badly Alex misses New York and the fame that came with it. It was nice to finally see our cast of characters actually express sadness over there lost home; although I wish we could have seen a bit more sadness from Alex because he had to leave his parents. 


     How on earth did they get to Europe you ask? I have no idea. One moment they are in Africa, the next they pop out of the water in Monte Carlo. However, as discussed in the second film's review, that's just the kind of quirky humor Madagascar has and you just have to learn to laugh at. After a bit shaky start, the story finally picks up when our characters join the circus. Here we are introduced to many new characters that are extremely loveable. Overall, the entire film is your basic Madagascar fun with unrealistic antics that are funny if you choose to laugh. 

The new circus characters

     The biggest problem of the entire film's arc is that our characters don't really grow in this film at all. And outside of Alex, the other main characters hardly even speak that much. Although Alex is normally the center character in the series, the second film proved that equal amounts of time can be given to other characters and allow them to grow. The problem with the third film is that it does give time to other characters, just not Marty, Melman, or Gloria. The new circus animals get the bulk of the attention and it's all about how meeting Alex and the gang changes their lives. They all go through character developments, but no one else really does. 


     While seeing these new characters change was necessary and welcome, the film needed much more screen time from the original four main characters. Far too much time was spent in Monte Carlo when DuBois was chasing them. In fact, I feel like there was too much DuBois in general. While watching her avoid everything the penguins throw at her was really funny, it was unnecessary. There were so many scenes with her in it that it became a little too much. 

The ever hilarious and evil, Captain Chantel DuBois

     Not only did DuBois get too much screen time, but so did King Julien and his new love interest, Sonya the bear. While it was fun to watch them on their date, it just took too much time. If DreamWorks Animation were to have trimmed some of the scenes with DuBois and Sonya, we could have seen more time with Marty, Melman and Gloria. However these are just small wishes because in the end, everything did end up flowing well and it's not as if these characters were completely ignored. The film still managed to tell a story about discovering your talents all while managing some very crazy situations in a very humorous way.


Visuals and Soundtrack: The Madagascar films have always had an amazing soundtrack, and when the film opens it plays the title theme we all know so well. This made me very excited for the soundtrack, but in the end the film has a soundtrack that disappears in the background. Not to say that it was a bad soundtrack, it was actually great! It just wasn't featured as heavily and I wanted to hear more striking pieces from Hans Zimmer. Instead we got a great soundtrack that blended into the background perfectly. Not only that but an entire sequence used Katy Perry's "Firework" rather than orchestration. However, this scene was my favorite scene in the whole film and the song did compliment it rather nicely. 

A small glimpse of the beautiful
Cirque Du Soleil type performance

     The scene was also the most beautiful sequence in the entire film. With the help of Alex, the circus animals finally put together an amazing show after the likes of Cirque Du Soleil and boy was it fantastic. The rest of the film, while beautiful, didn't have a very striking art style. The previous films were absolutely beautiful, using African influences in the art style. However this film doesn't use any African art styles and instead goes for the typical photo realistic look. 


     Monte Carlo, although beautiful, is just Monte Carlo, Rome is just Rome, and New York is just New York. It was really disappointing to see the previous films bold and beautiful art style disappear. The Cirque Du Soleil scene changes all of that though, and offers a few minutes of visual eye candy. From neon lights and rings to the painted circus animals the entire thing was bold and beautiful. We do get to see some of it in the other circus scenes as well, which was an extremely nice addition. Also, all of the character animation for the new characters were perfect and amazing; each had their own circus look to them. I really loved every scene of the circus, performing and otherwise, that we got because it added a colorful and fun flare to the visual style.

The crazy characters we know and love are back
and better than ever

Conclusion: In the end, the film is still amazing; rivaling the second film as the best in the series. Although it had its small faults, these really are just minor complaints. The entire film was absolutely wonderful and a joy to watch. All of the humor and loveable characters are back, with plenty of new and fun additions! 


     This film does take these characters on the journey they have been waiting for since the first film. We see them all come together and help others to accomplish their goals. They realize that friendship is everything and they learn to appreciate the adventures they have had. It was really great to see the film come full circle, with plenty of nods to the first film. Although it doesn't have the most bold visual style or soundtrack, and three of our four main characters don't get as much attention as I would like, the film is still amazing and is in no way inferior to the others.  I loved almost everything about the film and was entertained every second! This film is most definitely "Crackalackin!"