Review of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) by Frontpack — 14 Nov 2012

I'm really surprised at all of the positive reviews on this. I don't make it to a lot of movies, but this was one of the worst movies I've seen in a while. I thought the first Madagascar was decent, but didn't see the second one. Two big issues with this version: the ridiculous plot and the message it seems to be sending.

The plot: lots of impossibilities, and they didn't seem to have any purpose rather than the animators thought these additions were amusing. The woman police officer could have been a great character, but the whole breaking through walls invincibility made her whole persona pointless and without substance. The climax of the film gave the clearest indication of this terrible plot. They basically gave up trying to show the acrobatics of Alex and Gia, instead resorting to flashes of color and flips through an endless space of black. Again, totally without substance and potentially without much effort on their part either.

The message: The film has a group of animals first wanting to leave nature for the zoo, and then deciding instead to be in the circus. Sure it's a circus that they are directing themselves, but this was only used as a motivational piece. The circus and the zoo, two places where animals have been badly mistreated, and here's a kids movie suggesting that animals love both. There was some realization about being in the zoo by Alex, and I get the references to freedom and doing things their own way, but again this still related just to the circus. A great kids movie? I almost can't believe it.

To those reviewers who say it's almost an insult to the viewer - I completely agree. We should be demanding a better movie than this. Instead it's been, 'O look, pretty colors.