Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

Movie Review: «Madagascar 3».

English Title: Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.
Production: USA, 2012.
Release Date: 18.05.2012 (France), 08.06.2012 (USA).
Russian Distributor: Central Partnership (07.06.2012).
Official Website:
Genres: 3D / Adventure / Animation / Comedy / Family / Sequel.
Directors: Conrad Vernon, Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath.
Voices: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer.
Running Time: 85 minutes.

Madagascar de Soleil

The Penguins in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted were voiced over by Co-Director Tom McGrath (Skipper), Chris Miller (Kowalski), John DiMaggio (Rico) and Christopher Knights (Private). Monkeys are their loyal assistants, where a couple is particularly distinguished, including voiceless Phil and Mason, whose lines were delivered by Conrad Vernon. The forefront enemy would be the animal control inspector named Captain Chantel DuBois. She finds out about the animals travelling freely around Europe and hopes to get the lions’s head to add it to her wall filled with stuffed animals.

Chantel DuBois combines the senses and habits of a detective hound with a voice paying tribute to French singer Édith Piaf (1915-1963), skills similar to the ones of Ethan Hunt from Mission: Impossible (1996-2011) and Cruella de Vil manners from the story of The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956). Her English voice for such a villain has been provided by an American actress Frances McDormand, who is not only the Academy-Award winner, but also obtained three Oscar nominations and many other awards. The only way for the animals to escape is to join the Zaragoza Circus band planning to make shows in Rome and London to win a promoter’s endorsement and get a chance to travel to New York.

The already familiar characters in Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted will get some new memorable friends, what allows them to communicate extensively and make decisions in various emotional situations. That’s why the easy-going sea lion Stefano will quickly befriend Marty, while lion Alex gets interested in a cute cheetess Gia, though he now has to prove to everyone that he is an experienced circus acrobat as he said, when saving his best friends from harm. Even the Russian tiger Vitaly isn’t evil at all, though has his own story with a surprises leading him to the hilarious Borsch addiction. Glamorous horse Carmen speaks little, but does correspond to her image.

All the new animals are voiced by Canadian comic Martin Short, Jessica Chastain from The Help (2012) drama, Bryan Cranston and Spanish actress Paz Vega, whose career also included one more Carmen character in the Carmen (2003) feature film. Any new adventure of the crowd just can’t happen anymore without the egoistic King Julian XIII, together with his advisor Maurice or the cute Mort creature. Once again Sacha Baron Cohen of The Dictator (2012) takes up the voice of the crowned lemur to get acquainted with the female bear named Sonja. They will go shopping in Vatican and spend more time together to share love and passion with each other. Julian’s assistants will appear briefly being complemented by speech and sounds coming from Cedric the Entertainer and Andy Richter.

The wide sense of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted looks appealing both for kids and adults and reminds of the first two Shrek films in some ways. There are just cute jokes and more ironic parodies working with the symbols of modern Pop culture and even movies. It has also been a progressive step forward compared to the sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. The weak or monotonous scenes of the previous episode were replaced more action-packed sequences, funny situations and even some fast-paced combat and car chases against the main foe with her uniformed allies.

Join our Communities: Facebook / Twitter / YouTube.

The zoo animals will make some new friends on their way

Read on further to learn about the production and the soundtrack of Madagascar 3.