Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Madagascar 3 is the funny, action-filled third installment in the popular animated Madagascar franchise. The film opens with the penguins and lemur King Julien XIII flying off in a monkey-powered plane to visit the casinos of Monte Carlo, leaving Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman back in Africa awaiting their return. When the penguins don't come back, the lion, zebra, hippo, and giraffe go after them and descend on the casino in their typically bumbling fashion. Silliness and comedy abound, but the plot drags a bit through this section of the film until the introduction of Captain DuBois, an animal control officer with some serious tracking skills and an obsession with acquiring a lion head for her wall. The story and action really begin in earnest when Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman join up with a traveling circus in an attempt to elude DuBois. The sense of conflict, humor on both kid and adult levels, and suspense is fantastic as the foursome go to great lengths to impress the veteran circus animals and improve the struggling circus's show to win a coveted American tour contract. Each of the animals learns some important lessons about taking risks, believing in oneself, and finding and pursuing one's passion along the journey. But when it looks like the group's dream of returning to the New York Zoo may finally be within grasp, the quartet discover that they can never truly go back to the way things used to be--and more surprisingly, that perhaps none of them really wants to. (Ages 6 and older) --Tami Horiuchi