Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the third installment of the Madagascar series and the sequel to Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008). It is also the first film in the series to be released in 3D. The film was directed by Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, and Conrad Vernon from a screenplay by Darnell and Noah Baumbach. Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, and Andy Richter reprise their roles from the previous films, with newcomers including Jessica Chastain, Bryan Cranston, Martin Short, and Frances McDormand.
In this film, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are still struggling to get home to New York. This time, their journey takes them to Europe, where they are relentlessly pursued by the murderous Monaco-based French Animal Control officer Captain Chantel DuBois. As a means of getting passage to North America, the animals join a circus, where they become close friends with the animal performers, including the new characters of Gia, Vitaly, and Stefano. Together, they spectacularly revitalize the business and along the way find themselves reconsidering where their true home really is.
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted made its world premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2012, and was released in the United States on June 8. It has a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (the highest rating in the series) and is the eighth highest-grossing film of 2012 and the highest-grossing Madagascar film with a worldwide gross of over $746 million. A spin-off titled Penguins of Madagascar was released on November 26, 2014. A sequel, Madagascar 4, was initially planned for a 2018 release, but was later removed from the release schedule due to DreamWorks Animation's 2015 restructuring.
Plot[]
Following the events of the previous film, the penguins—Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private—and the chimpanzees Mason and Phil leave Africa for Monte Carlo in their modified airplane. When they do not return, Alex the lion convinces his friends Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe, and Gloria the hippopotamus that they should go find them and return to their home at the Central Park Zoo. With their lemur friends from Madagascar—King Julien, Maurice, and Mort—they find the penguins and chimpanzees at the Monte Carlo Casino. Chaos ensues, and the animals barely escape from Animal Control officer Chantel DuBois, who is determined to add Alex's head to her taxidermy collection.
When their plane crashes, the animals board a departing circus train. The circus animals—Stefano the sea lion, Gia the jaguar, and Vitaly the tiger—are suspicious of outsiders, so Alex lies by claiming that they are American circus animals. The circus is headed for a performance in Rome, followed by one in London where they hope to impress an American promoter in order to get their first American tour. To allay suspicion, the penguins purchase the circus from its human ringmaster. In Rome, Alex becomes enamored with Gia while King Julien falls in love with performing bear Sonya. DuBois and her men pursue Julien and Sonya, but fail to catch them and are arrested.
The performance in Rome is a disaster: The animals' acts go awry and they are chased off by the angry audience. Stefano explains to Alex that the circus was once famous and Vitaly was its star, skillfully jumping through ever-smaller hoops. However, one day he tried to jump through a tiny flaming hoop and the olive oil he used as lubricant caught fire. The accident caused Vitaly to lose his passion, and the entire circus suffered as a result. Alex convinces the circus animals to come up with a new, exciting, all-animal act that will restore their former glory. Marty and Stefano find a new passion in being shot out of a cannon, while Melman and Gloria become adept at dancing together on a tightrope. Gia persuades Alex to teach her "Trapeze Americano", and the two begin to fall in love. Meanwhile, DuBois escapes from prison and resumes her pursuit.
In London, Vitaly is afraid of failing again and is about to run away, but Alex helps him rediscover his passion for performing the impossible. At Alex's suggestion, Vitaly lubricates himself with hair conditioner and succeeds in jumping through the tiny flaming hoop. The show is a spectacular success, and the American promoter signs the circus to a contract. DuBois shows up, and though the penguins foil her plan, the document she was carrying reveals to the others that Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are not really circus animals, but zoo animals trying to get home. The circus animals feel betrayed and eject the foursome.
The zoo and circus animals go their separate ways but arrive in Central Park at the same time. Looking in at their old home, the zoo animals realize how much their adventures have changed them and decide that their true place is with the circus. DuBois shows up and tranquilizes them, but before she can behead Alex the zoo staff arrive and incorrectly believe that she is returning the missing animals. King Julien makes it back to the circus with the news, and Gia convinces the others that they should rescue their friends. The zoo animals awaken in their old enclosures, now surrounded by high fences. DuBois is being honored by the zoo staff, but secretly loads a poison-filled dart and takes aim at Alex. Gia swings in on a trapeze and rescues him, revealing that the animals have transformed the circus into a "flying circus" of hot air balloons. They rescue the zoo animals, and together they defeat DuBois. Alex and his friends permanently join the circus, and the penguins ship DuBois and her men off in crates bound for Madagascar.
Voice cast[]
- Ben Stiller as Alex, a lion and Gia's love interest.
- Chris Rock as Marty, a zebra and Alex's best friend.
- David Schwimmer as Melman, a giraffe, another of Alex's friends and Gloria's love interest.
- Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria, a hippopotamus, another of Alex's friends and Melman's love interest.
- Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien XIII, a ring-tailed lemur who is the king of the lemurs in Madagascar
- Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice, an aye-aye and adviser of King Julien XIII
- Andy Richter as Mort, a Goodman's mouse lemur and a companion of King Julien XIII
- Tom McGrath as Skipper, a penguin who is the leader of all penguins and First Policeman.
- Frances McDormand as Captain Chantel DuBois, the leader of the Animal Control.
- Jessica Chastain as Gia, an Italian jaguar and Alex's love interest.
- Martin Short as Stefano, an Italian sea lion.
- Bryan Cranston as Vitaly, a Russian Siberian tiger and a former superstar of the travelling circus
- Chris Miller as Kowalski, a penguin and Skipper's right-hand man.
- Christopher Knights as Private, a penguin
- John DiMaggio as Rico, a penguin
- Frank Welker as Sonya, a Eurasian brown bear
- Paz Vega as the Andalusian Triplets (Esmeralda, Esperanza and Ernestina)
- Conrad Vernon as Mason, a chimpanzee and Second Policeman
- Vinnie Jones as Freddie, a Great Dane
- Steve Jones as Jonesy, a Bernese Mountain Dog
- Nick Fletcher as Frankie, an Entlebucher Mountain Dog
- Eric Darnell as Comandante, Zoo Official and Zoo Announcer
- Dan O'Connor as Casino Security and Mayor of New York City
- Danny Jacobs as Croupier and Circus Master
Production[]
DreamWorks Animation's CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg confirmed in 2008 that there would be an additional sequel to Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Katzenberg stated, "There is at least one more chapter. We ultimately want to see the characters make it back to New York." At the Television Critics Association press tour in January 2009, Katzenberg was asked if there would be a third film in the series. He replied, "Yes, we are making a Madagascar 3 now, and it will be out in the summer of 2012." On August 9, 2010, Katzenberg revealed in an e-mail that writer-director Noah Baumbach had done sixty pages of re-writes to the screenplay.
A significant amount of the animation and visual effects for the film had been done at DreamWorks Dedicated Unit, an India-based unit at Technicolor.
Release[]
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted opened the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2012. The American release followed on June 8, 2012. The film was also converted to the IMAX format and shown in specific European territories, including Russia, Ukraine, and Poland.
Home media[]
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on October 16, 2012. It was the first DreamWorks Animation film to use the UltraViolet System and the Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D comes with a rainbow wig. As of April 2014, 9.1 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.
Reception[]
Critical reception[]
Based on 129 reviews, the film holds an approval rating of 79% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Dazzlingly colorful and frenetic, Madagascar 3 is silly enough for young kids, but boasts enough surprising smarts to engage parents along the way." This marks the best general review consensus of the film series that has showed improving critical favor; the original film has a score of 55%, and the sequel scores 64%. On Metacritic, it holds a score of 60 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."
Box office[]
Coming soon!
Accolades[]
Coming soon!
Soundtrack[]
- Main article: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted/Soundtrack
Video games[]
A video game based on the film, Madagascar 3: The Video Game, was released on June 5, 2012. The game allows gamers to play as Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria as they travel across Europe promoting the circus by performing stunts, circus acts and completing missions. It was released to Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Published by D3 Publisher, the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 versions were developed by Monkey Bar Games, and the 3DS and DS versions by Torus Games. The game received negative reviews from critics with Metacritic giving the Xbox 360 version a 45/100.
A mobile video game, Madagascar: Join the Circus!, also published by D3 Publisher, was released on June 4, 2012, for iPhone and iPad. The game allows players to build a circus and play mini-games. The game was removed from App Stores on June 16, 2017.
Comic book[]
A comic book based on the film and titled Madagascar Digest Prequel: Long Live the King! was released on June 12, 2012, by Ape Entertainment.
Spin-off and possible sequel[]
A spin-off feature film titled Penguins of Madagascar, featuring the penguins from the Madagascar films, was released on November 26, 2014. Its story picks up right after Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. The plot of the television series of the same name does not tie in with the film.
In June 2014, it was announced that Madagascar 4 would be released on May 18, 2018. However, in January 2015, the film was removed from the release schedule following corporate restructuring and DreamWorks Animation's new policy to release two films a year. In April 2017, Tom McGrath said about the film, "There are things in the works, nothing is announced yet, but I think they'll show their faces once more."
Notes[]
- In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures and transferred to Universal Pictures.