Seven years have passed since the first “Madagascar” was out in theaters. At that time, I haven’t got into college yet and was still enjoying my terrific life as a teenager. My eagerness to explore the world was just as much as Marty the Zebra’s willingness to discover places outside the zoo. This October, “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” was released on DVD. I highly recommend to own it in your DVD collection. Make sure you put it under the category of “friends’ movie.”
What qualifies as a “friend movie”? Warming, interesting, loving and exciting are probably the most wanted characteristics for a friend movie.The point of watching movie with your friends is to have fun and to escape from the trivial stuff in reality. “Madagascar 3” has for sure achieved that goal. It is such a funny and touching movie you can appreciate, even without having seen the first and the second movie in the series. Its colorful imagery and hilarious lines will keep you energized through the whole film.
The movie tells a simple story of how these animals try to go back home while they ended up in Europe bumping into new friends in a circus, which is touring around the world. They are hunted by Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand), an officer from Monaco Animal Control who has determined to catch these animals and kill them. She has all kinds of animal specimen hanging on the wall, and the only species missing is the lion.
Have they managed to escape from the horrifying woman? Yes, of course they won’t die since there will be a fourth Madagascar movie called “The Penguins of Madagascar” coming up in 2015. I am already looking forward to this new sequel since I am a big fan of those penguin stooges.
Animation is always a good choice for a “friends’ movie” since it gets you to watch, to forget and to discuss spontaneously. DreamWorks seems to be not a powerful competitor to Pixar, especially in the Oscar arena. Pixar wins for its complexity and insightfulness in stories. But who needs to think about life when there are friends? That’s why I think “Madagascar 3” should make a place in the friend section of your DVD shelves.
We may not remember what we were up to the night we watched “Madagascar.” But what we do remember is who we watched it with. Friends are something that do not change overtime. Go get a copy of “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” and mark it as a “friends’ most wanted” movie in your collection.
