Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Forum

I honestly have almost no recollection of the first two Madagascar movies. I didn't see them, and I don't remember them coming to theaters, but between them, they've apparently made well over a billion dollars at the box office worldwide, so I guess they went ahead and made a sequel. And, of course, they hired Oscar-nominated writer/director Noah Baumbach, creator of such adult-oriented tales of arrested adolescence as Kicking And Screaming and Greenberg, to write the screenplay.

Huh? I guess everyone wants a paycheck now and then, but I'd still be interested in hearing the story about how he was brought on board. Anyway, colorful colors, talking animals doing funny things, CGI animation: this is a movie that will make another $600 million or so.

Here's another reason why America's children are idiots.

@Atary77 said:

Here's another reason why America's children are idiots.

Yes, because 7 year-olds in other countries are too busy watching Un chien andalou and The Seventh Seal.

Nice of them to include the penis shaking part of the song in the trailer.

When I think of talking animal movies for children, I think of that bad LMAFO song. Oh wait, all their songs are bad.

After being understandably shocked by that headline, I actually got excited.

"So the talented Mr. Baumbach has decided to give himself an interesting challenge, eh?", I thought. "Hmm. Take the most successful and vapid children's movie franchise and actually make the story good? Give the characters heart, instead of brow-raising smirks? This sounds fascinatingly devious!"

Then I watched the trailer. And it sucks. :/

The Madagascar movies always make me sad. The main characters are actually pretty great (and animation-wise, so fun to watch. They really nail squash and stretch in 3D), with relatively great voice acting by normal actors, which isn't always the case. The Penguins too are a highlight. But fuck if they don't always end up focusing on that obnoxious Lemur voiced by the equally obnoxious Sacha Baren Cohen. And other stupid dumb pop culture shit. It's depressing - they could be great, but they always end up skewing for lazier, lower common denominator stuff.

This trailer keeps popping up whenever I go to a movie and it's the worst thing ever. Seriously, the circus bit with Chris Rock makes we want to stab the shit out of my ears.

I really despise this franchise like few others. They literally make me feel dumber with each passing moment. Even the awful Ice Age sequels aren't as bad.

I like the penguins, though. I heard that the producers were talking about a movie with just them (not related to the TV series). Needless to say, I won't be seeing this third Madagascar movie ever.

I have a friend who loves these movies unironically and it never fails to crack me up when he starts talking about them.

He also wrote (or at least co-wrote) The Life Aquatic and, more importantly, the slightly more kid-friendly (except kinda not) The Fantastic Mr. Fox with Wes Anderson. I think his recent work on Fantastic Mr. Fox may have somewhat influenced this decision.

While these aren't top notch films, they are by no means bottom of the barrel crap. I mean, would you rather watch Grown Ups or Bucky Larson instead of the Madagascar movies? Yeah, some of the jokes go for lowest common denominator but then again, these movies are focused for children more than adults (with the exception of the Penguins I think). My wife really liked the first two so we'll most likely see this one. I could think of worse ways to spend 2 hours.

So we can expect the animals to smear their bodily fluids around Europe, a la Squid and the Whale, then?

Sigh, i guess im just not critical of the movies i watch because this seems totally fine with me.... except for the sexy song. i hate that song with a passion(not the genre or beat, i mean its (shallow)message and or lack of one). The movie looks pretty much like the last one. the lion will fall in love causing the drama that stops them from simply going home, the tiger will screw them over, and eventually the lioness will live at the zoo or say "my life is with the circus". And if the generic story acts as a vehicle for some funny jokes, w/e, its not like im planning on going to the theater for this, cant wait till it shows up on t.v in 2014.... i wonder what life will be like then.... since im near the end of my bachelors, i am quite worried, and there is a chance future me remembers this and comes to see what 2012 me said. HEY ME, its ok everything will be ok, Its never too late, you will find a way to make life the way you want it.