Third in the lucrative series, this European adventure grabs you up for a brightly colored, fast-action odyssey full of energy and pizzazz — and never lets go. Three-dimensional effects are integral in Madagascar 3, climaxing in a spectacularly surreal laser light show under the Biggest Top ever. All in all, a Mad-cap romp that plays it straight, generating warmhearted laughs for kids rather than piling up nonstop popcult allusions and innuendo for the pleasure of snickering adults.
Stuck in Africa, the Madagascar menagerie are still jonesing to get back to the little Central Park zoo they once called home. When best buds penguins and chimps take off in their Rube Goldberg flying machine, destination Monte Carlo, the gang of four — Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) — snorkel their way over to the Riviera.
There, in a luxe casino, the hilariously grotesque “King of Versailles” — comprised of two chimps masquerading as a Louis XIV dandy, including a ginormous powdered wig, whiteface, lounge lizard mustache and lipstick — is busy breaking the bank when lion, giraffe, hippo and zebra literally drop in. Needless to say, chaos and widespread destruction ensue, triggering wild pursuit all over Europe by a fanatical French animal control cop.