My family is a big fan of this franchise. We fell in love with the characters in the first Madagascar. My 4-year-old loves Marty the Zebra, “Because he’s black and white.” My 7-year-old loves Alex the Lion “Because he’s funny and because I know four Alexes in my class.” My 42-year-old husband will laugh out loud at anything uttered by big-eyed, King Julien sidekick, Mort. And me? Melman the Giraffe’s neurosis makes me giggle but I LOVE me some Motto Motto the Hippo. In fact, his song “I like ‘em big, I like ‘em chunky…” sung in Madagascar 2 is my ringtone when my husband calls me. (Eh-hem.) But I digress…
Needless to say, our fingers were crossed and our expectations were high going in to #3, and I’m happy to say we were not disappointed. Hire funny comic actors and comedians to voice the animated characters in a movie and the movie is funny…hmm…imagine that. You might want to write that on the chalkboard 100 times, Hollywood. I laughed out loud the entire movie. Loved it! My whole family did. There was something for everyone: All our favorite characters (yes, the penguins are in it), lots of new characters to laugh at, love, and mimic, interesting storylines, and a few, clever adult jokes thrown in for good measure (that soared over my little one’s heads).
This time, our writers have Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria running away with the circus. A brilliant plot idea that took our heroes from a casino in Monte Carlo to an adventure on their way home to their beloved Central Park Zoo. However, their trip is hilariously interrupted by a French Animal Control Officer who would like to add parts of each of them to a collection she has on her wall. Frances McDormand is the voice of the officer and who knew she could sing a French torch song?! Wow. Very funny. My mascara was running right along with theirs.
OK, here’s the part where I confess: I can honestly only review 9/10 of the movie because I “left the building” for about six minutes of it. Bathroom break? Nope. Popcorn and chocolate run? I wish. The theater was packed, so we had to sit in the balcony. The very warm, very dark balcony. I fell asleep, OK? Sorry, but I’m a mom. An overworked, whined-at, sleep deprived mom. It happens. Usually at a way more embarrassing moment than a movie (Sorry, Honey). I was told it was during the Afro circus performance which was, “The bestest part of the whole movie, Mommy!” In fact, I woke up because my family was laughing so hard and loud, so I’m adding that to my good review.
The only draw back to this movie is Chris Rock’s song he wrote for Marty the Zebra to sing when he’s dressed up in a multi-colored wig for the circus: “…polka dot, polka dot, afro circus!” No one’s getting that song out of their head anytime in the next century. They included it in the trailer, so you already knew that, right? “Dat dat dada dada, dat dat circus…”
This is definitely a Blu-Ray purchase to add to my family’s library…mostly so I can see the parts I missed.
Maryellen Hooper
