Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
Year: 2012
Rating: PG
Length: 93 minutes / 1.55 hours
After the first two movies in the Madagascar franchise explored what it was like for zoo animals to survive in the wild, the natural conclusion to this arc was to bring them into an adjacent space for performing animals: the circus. While this didn’t allow for nearly as much individual character development as was in Madagascar: Return 2 Africa (2008), Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) was still a fun ride that looked the best the franchise as ever looked.
If anything, Europe’s Most Wanted shares more with the first Madagascar (2005) than the second one. The focus on animals performing (including that somewhat annoying “Entrance of the Gladiators” bit that Marty (Chris Rock) does) and the return to Central Park is a good bookend to bring closure to the saga started in the first movie. At least this journey was more purposeful than a mere accident that put the main characters into the stranded situation that led to their quest to return to New York. The new characters also brought more to the table with their own struggles and goals.
Speaking of new characters with goals, I found it bizarre that most of these movies didn’t have any humans involved, so introducing Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand) was a welcome change. Her unrelenting pursuit of these animals was honestly something that should have been a part of the first movie since the Central Park Zoo wouldn’t likely just let four of their animals disappear without at least trying to search for them. Granted, DuBois is insane, which just adds to the thrill of her chase. In the end, there’s a nice finality in the conclusion here.
A good bookend to the Madagascar saga, I give Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted 3.5 stars out of 5.
1/2
