Boo and I had some time today, and after it got too hot to comfortably play outside, I decided a movie would be fun.  Since he’s not quite ready for Prometheus, we went to see Madagascar 3:  Europe’s Most Wanted.  I was initially hesitant to see this one because I was so disappointed with the second movie in the series, but I have to say this one was very enjoyable.   There weren’t as many “Hey, we’re New Yorkers” jokes, it didn’t fall back on too much slapstick, and it had a good message without being preachy.

The original cast of Alex, Gloria, Marty, and Melman are back, along with the psychotic penguins and Sacha Baron Cohen playing the only role of his that I’ve ever liked:  Julien, the king lemur.  They are joined by a new group of characters from a circus, including Gia the leopard, Stephano the Italian sea lion, and Vitali, the Russian tiger.  All of them are pursued across Europe by Captain duBois, an obsessed animal control officer from Monte Carlo.

The plot, as was the case in the other two movies, revolves around the efforts of the four original animals to get back to New York.  In this case, they end up in Europe, are chased by the authorities, and join a circus to escape.  The story is well thought out, has a few twists, and told a message of family and loyalty without laying it on too thick.

The animation was done well, but I think that it was held back by not being dramatically different from the original movie.  In order to keep the pre-existing characters consistent across the series, their rendering has stayed pretty much as it was in 2005.  Other characters, such as Gia, are much more intricate, and the backgrounds are extremely intricate.  This difference in detail was noticeable, but was not jarring.  The visuals during several of the circus act scenes were outstanding, and I can only imagine that the 3D version highlighted them.

The voice acting was very well done.  The original cast was, of course, using their own voices to play a character, but the new characters such as Stephano, voiced by Martin Short, were true creations by the actors.  The cast interacted very well, and did a good job in timing jokes.

Since this is a movie for children, I watched how Boo reacted.  He was entranced by the first half of the movie, but got fidgety through the third quarter.  A lot of plot development occurred during this time, and while there was some action to keep his attention, it was basically the setup for the climax of the film.  The last part of the movie pulled him back in, and he enjoyed it enough to stop asking for more popcorn, which is quite a feat.  The movie is rated PG, and there is some implied cussing, and at least one scene involving an elephant moving in reverse and a young boy that made me squirm a bit as a parent.  Otherwise, it was appropriate for families.

Overall, I would give this movie a 4 out of 5.  It’s not an instant American classic, but it’s definitely worth the cost of a matinee with popcorn and sodas.