Madagascar 3 Review

The daughter and I caught the preview to Madagascar 3 and were sucked in by the image and accompanying song above. We had seen the first Madagascar film from Dreamworks Animation and enjoyed it but didn’t see Madagascar 2.  Yesterday we went to see the movie (non-3D) and here’s what we thought:

Madagascar 3 is the story of Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (voiced by Chris Rock), Melman the giraffe (voiced by David Schwimmer) and Gloria the hippopotamus (voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith) who are living in Africa but dreaming of returning to the zoo they left in the first film.  We get to follow along on their journey to try and find their way back home.

Madagascar 3 brings in all of the usual elements of the series. The penguins are extremely smart and witty. King Julien the lemur is over the top and as usual there is a song that will get stuck in your head - an earworm. In Madagascar it was “I Like To Move It, Move It” and here it is “Afro Circus” (see trailer below).

The story is definitely geared to the tween and younger crowd. At one point the crew rehearses for a few hours and in the next scene puts on a circus extravaganza, but hey – it’s a movie about talking animals don’t take it so seriously. All of the kids in the audience enjoyed it and laughed and that is good enough for me. The writers also seem to make fun of themselves with Skipper the leader of the penguins (voiced by Tom McGrath) stating at one point that they could have bought a plane if they hadn’t bought a circus.

The penguins are a riot as usual and Chris Rock’s Marty has the most memorable moments in the film with his dance and song. This is a fun one to take the kids too for a matinee. I give Madagascar 3 three Mick Happies. You will not get "Polka Dot, Polka Dot – Afro Circus" out of your head.

The Intouchables Review

About a week ago, my wife and daughter told me they wanted to buy a DVD for a movie called The Intouchables. They had seen the trailer online and based on what they saw they wanted to see the movie, which was available on DVD in Europe but not here in the United States. A little poking around the Internet and it wasn’t clear that version of the movie available for purchase had English subtitles. Luckily, the French movie directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano was just released here on May 25. We promptly found a Landmark Theatre playing the film and made plans for this weekend – with me joking that I was going to read a movie (though the trailer did make the film look good.)

The Intouchables is the story of a wealthy tetraplegic (quadraplegic?) named Philippe, played by Francois Cluzet, and his live-in caregiver Driss, played by Omar Sy. The film opens to the two of them stuck in traffic in Philippe’s Maserati Quattroporte. Driss pulls out of traffic, hits the throttle and takes off only to be chased by the police. Driss bets Philippe that he can get away from the police and Phillipe agrees. The scene goes on from there and I won’t ruin it for you. Suffice it to say that this is actually a point toward the end of the story and the movie then goes back to how Driss and Philippe met and proceeds from there.

The story is full of laughter and some drama as we see how these two main characters learn about each other and become more than employer and employee. I thoroughly enjoyed the believable and touching friendship between Philippe and Driss as well as the relationships between Driss and the rest of Philippe’s staff.  The entire cast did a great job, particularly Anne Le Ny as Yvonne (the head of the household staff) and Audrey Fleurot as Magalie (Philippe’s assistant). The result, a very entertaining film.

Often when I watch subtitled movies I find myself so preoccupied with reading that I miss the visuals of the film. With The Intouchables, I often forgot that I was reading (though I still was) and was instead caught up in the film. My wife, daughter and I all really enjoyed the film and left the theater ready to go get a Maserati (if you like cars…you will too.) This is one time where the movie trailer (see it below) shows you exactly what to expect from the film. I give The Intouchables five Mick Happies. Look for a theater showing this movie and go, it will be well worth your time.