Sunday, September 22, 2013

Alex Marty Gloria and Melman are still trying to get back to the Big Apple and their beloved Central Park zoo but first they need to find the penguins. When they travel to Monte Carlo they attract the attention of Animal Control after gate crashing a party and are joined by the penguins King Julian and Co. and the monkeys. How do a lion zebra hippo giraffe four penguins two monkeys three lemurs travel through Europe without attracting attention and get back to New York They join a traveling circus. Their attempts to get back to New York are consistently hampered by the Captain of Animal Control who wants to make Alex part of her collection. Once they make it back to New York Marty Alex Gloria and Melman realize that they want to be part of the traveling circus.

Review

I watched this at the Cannes Film Festival 2012 after deciding to take a break from all the serious arthouse fare on offer. With the exception of Ben Stiller's lead all the original supporting leads take virtually a back seat in this third instalment. But several great new characters are introduced namely Frances McDormand as Captain Chantel DuBois Bryan Cranston as Vitaly and the fabulous Martin Short as Stefano. All there performances are stand out but wished Shorts Stefano was featured more. Cranston as Vitaly was beautifully menacing but it is the wacky deadly policewoman in charge of hunting down and capturing the animals as they make their way across Europe which is the centre of the narrative drive. Since the police team where obviously the bad guys (DuBois only wants to capture Mike (Ben Stiller) so she can add his head to her mounted collection of stuffed animals on her office wall) it was ironic that I watched this in France since the police were portrayed as bunch gungho obsessive freaks (DuBois crawls around on all fours to sniff down her prey like a dog come insect). The film was screened in 3D initially I was apprehensive since I don't really enjoy 3D movies but this was a pleasant surprise. After a few minutes I had completely forgotten that I was wearing the 3D glasses and actually...in the spectacular climatic scene I was completely wowed. An explosion of vivid movement and colour formed an intricate moving tapestry of light and colour that was gorgeous to watch. The kids will love it and any one young at heart enough to let themselves loose themselves in escapist fun for a couple of hours. One of the best ⋺mily" animation films that I've seen in years and highly recommended. Oh I nearly forgot....Baron Cohen's (as The King) love affair with a giant mute bear is both surreal and priceless!