Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. Rated PG (mild violence and crude humour). 93 minutes. Directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath and Conrad Vernon. Screenplay by Eric Darnell and Noah Baumbach.
Verdict: The Madagascar team are back in an inspired film
that recalls the ground-breaking work of the animation master Walt Disney.
Beginning with Madagascar (2005) and a sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
(2008), this successful franchise
has followed the lives of four animals – Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the
Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer) and Gloria the Hippo
(Jada Pinkett Smith). Having been shipwrecked on the island of Madagascar, many
miles away from their home in New York’s Central Park Zoo, the series focuses
on their attempts to return to the familiarity of their relatively comfortable
home.
In this latest instalment,
our adventurers find themselves in Monte Carlo where they hope their clever
penguin friends will fly them back to New York. As one attempt to flee Monte
Carlo after another fails disastrously, the gang catch a ride on a circus train
with Monaco’s fierce and determined Animal Control Officer Chantel DuBois
(Frances McDormand) in fearless pursuit. When they discover that the circus is
washed-up, Alex leads the team in a plan to revitalise it in the hope that an
American talent scout will offer them a contract and get them safely home.
Darnell and McGrath (who
have written and directed the previous two films) are joined at the helm of
this film by Vernon (Shrek 2),
while Darnell’s collaboration with Baumbach (Fantastic Mr Fox) on the screenplay inspires the film’s
extraordinary flights into surreal and supremely imaginative visual
environments that appear to know no boundaries. From the Dali-infused prologue
to the wonderfully spirited finale in the skies high above New York, Madagascar
3 is an inspired and often
astonishing piece of magnificently lit, animated art from the series' production designer Kendal Cronkhite.
While younger members of the audience will be giddy but glued to screen (courtesy of the film’s almost perfectly sustained breath-taking pace), there are also some witty and sophisticated gems scattered throughout the film that will ensure audiences of all ages are having a thoroughly entertaining time of it all.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
While younger members of the audience will be giddy but glued to screen (courtesy of the film’s almost perfectly sustained breath-taking pace), there are also some witty and sophisticated gems scattered throughout the film that will ensure audiences of all ages are having a thoroughly entertaining time of it all.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
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