david-sarkies
Well, it seems as if they couldn't leave the movie with our four heroes happy back in the plains of Africa because, well, they are starting to get homesick. Actually, the Penguins and the Monkeys had already headed home, via Monte Carlo to do a bit of gambling with all of the gold and jewels that they dug up in the previous adventure, and our heroes are starting to scratch their heads, wondering when they are going to get back again. Well, as it turns out the Penguins have completely forgotten about them so our heroes decide to head off the Europe. There is only one problem – after causing a raucous at the casino they catch the attention of Dubois, a dangerous animal hunter who wants a lion's head on her wall, so they do what any self respecting animal does, and join the circus.This film seems to move away from what the original two were exploring, namely the animals returning to their natural habitat. Okay, the animals don't actually live in Madagascar, but that was because they fell overboard and landed up there. However, we now return to civilisation (for want of a better word, though maybe I should say 'industrialised world') and have to learn how to perform in a circus. Okay, there is the problem that carnies (that is circus performers) tend to stick together and not particularly like strangers, but the Monkeys, taking on the disguise of the King of Versaille (which I have to admit is a pretty awesome disguise), buy the circus as a way to get onto the train.The problem is that the circus is, well, run down, particularly since one of the star performers ended up failing in one of his acts and now spends his time moping in the corner. In the end, as can be expected from a Hollywood movie, everything turns out for the best, though the whole adage of there being no place like home is a bit of a misnomer because, as our heroes discover, once you leave home then all of a sudden home is no longer what you could consider home. In fact once you leave home then in reality you can never actually go back home again.I have to admit that I didn't like this film as much as the second one in the franchise, but maybe because the whole joining the circus pretty much introduced a whole heap of new characters that I found quite difficult to start relating too. It wasn't as if they were bad, or annoying, it was just that they were new and, okay, somewhat annoying. I guess the whole circus thing sort of annoyed me as well. Okay, it did have a plot, and it did end reasonably well, though I guess the other thing was that Dubois also started to get under my skin by the end of the film. Sure, it is called Europe's Most Wanted, and by the end having Dubois in the film was necessary, but I still didn't particularly like her. The film was okay, but nowhere near as good as the second in the series.
Mark Tuovinen
As a child my favorite animated movie out was "Madagascar" I absolutely loved the humor and the gorgeous animating (which stands to this day) from Dreamworks Animation Studios. Then the sequel which was in my opinion even better, with so much character background and development throughout it was an animated masterpiece. Every character was well played and enjoyable to say the least. I was about 15 years old when I first heard Madagascar 3 was being released and I was excited to revisit my childhoods favorite characters. Man was I wrong! Madagascar 3 just didn't feel the same. It was the same characters as before which I appreciated and the introduction to characters was good too. Animation was gorgeous as always also. The problem that I have with this film is the writers. What were they thinking? The story is so separate and different and unrelated to the previous two films which were great. The story winds the characters to end up travelling with a travelling circus of animals that are touring Europe. From this point on the story goes downhill. It decides to develop the characters from this circus and cover their back stories and why they are what they are like. Which in my opinion takes up to much time throughout the movie and totally spoils it. As for the "Bad Guy" or "enemy" in this film I would say is what ruined this film. The protagonist is a female Russian police officer who decides to hunt down all of the main characters and kill them. Alright then?..I found her character quite dark, sadistic and very annoying to say the least. Although there are a few factors that in my opinion ruin the " Madagascar" franchise the main characters are still lovable and have great character. If you haven't seen this film and have seen the first two then probably don't watch this. Children who aren't bothered by films that have a very different feel to the first two will enjoy this none the less.
James Beckham
After seeing the first two Madagascar films, I was very excited for the third film. Sadly, it was nowhere close to my expectations. It started off well enough with the animals busting into the casino in Monte Carlo, but it's leaving the casino where the film gets bad. The villain is unbelievable and absolutely stupid. You can't wait for her to defeated, but for the wrong reasons. Then the circus animals they meet are rather boring and the tiger's story is so absolutely ridiculous it's ridiculous for even a cartoon. That really ruined the film for me. Along with the rest of the cast, he was boring and just ridiculous. It did have some good scenes in the film past breaking into the casino at Monte Carlo, though. The King Julien-Sonya romance is one of the funniest and most charming romances you'll ever see. The film is worth sitting through just for those scenes.Overall, this film is strictly for younger children. Seriously, you'd have to have the mentality of a 5 year old boy to really enjoy this film. While the film does have some words that are VERY close to swear words, I can't remember them saying actual swear words and the references to swear words will fly right over the child's head (along with the sexual innuendo). Not a fun or charming film and absolutely ridiculous, so I'll give it a 3 out of 10.
