Madagascar

[Bill1978]

Just need to get this off my chest. It bugs me that when Alex pops up out of the ocean his mane is perfect, it's not wet and droopy and clinging to his head.

It seems to be a bit of an improvement of #2, but in my books that's not hard. If they tell a single story instead of multiple plots AND they end up back at the zoo, I could live with this movie exisitng.

[droosan]

Wowwww, the negativity.


A 'Euro-caper' flick is a different direction than I'd expected, given the ending of Escape 2 Africa .. but I think it looks fun.

IMO, the first Madagascar dragged a bit in its third act, but I was pleasantly surprised (and thoroughly entertained!) by the sequel .. and even the Christmas shorts -- and the occasional episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar TV series that I've managed to catch -- have at least gotten a few laughs out of me.

And I'd thought it was common knowledge that the third film has been in development/production pretty much since the second movie wrapped.


Addendum: I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Dame DuBois turns out to be related to Nana ("Bad Kitty!"), somehow.

[Bill1978]

I knew it was in development when #2 was sent out to theatres. I just hope that his movies ends the 'saga' and since they are in Europe they can get caught and returned to their beloved zoo or a something. I will admit I've never understood the box office success of this series. The animation is lazy in my opinion and the jokes can get very tiresome. I can tolerate the first one more than the 2nd one. The 2nd one had way too many storylines and thus suffered in allowing me to care for the characters. The trailer for #3 implies that everyone will be experiencing the same story which is a big plus. I will definitely watch it (I end up wathing all animated cinematic releases), but I'm not going to be rushing out to see it in cinemas.

[EricJ]

I will admit I've never understood the box office success of this series.

Well, that was my point earlier--
There's two built-in-audience reasons for the series' "success":
1) Foreign audiences that like any American CGI with lots of slapstick visual gags and universally-appealing wisecracking critters, that don't require the complex English or cross-cultural translation of Pixar's plots (even if they can't often tell them apart from the Ice Ages),
and
2) US parents who promise to, okay already, drag their 3-yo.'s to see it, if they'll just shut up and STOP SINGING that stupid "move-it-move-it" song all over the house!
(Oh, yeah: Dreamworks knows who're they're selling it to in the teasers and TV ads, and the hypnotic Pied Piper power it has on anyone pre-kindergarten, or they'd have let it go after the second movie. They couldn't be that desperate to stretch one first-film gag for an entire series...Oh, wait, it's Katzenberg. Never mind.)

[Ben]

Ice Age: cold, white landscapes. Lots of snow and, you know, ice.

Madagascar: hot, saturated color. Lots of African animals.

I think audiences can tell them apart.


And, with people being paid a lot to do their jobs, you would hope that DWs marketing department knew what they were doing...

[Bill1978]

EricJ - please explain why the Madagascar series has been so successful in Australia.

Plus it doesnt explain why the first movie was such a hit. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking not only was it filled with ugly animation, it looked like cheap animation. If Madagascar was released b some third rate movie house it would have flopped it the cheap looking animation and tired gags. But then I guess Madagascar had the advantage of riding the Shrek train and then once the first one was a hit mindless lemmings came back for the 2nd.

Madagascar is harmless TV fun, but a waste of a trip to the cinema for this person.

[Randall]

It's simple, actually--- the Madagascar movies are made for kids, and still provide light entertainment for adults. They're bright, fun, silly, and not too deep. Nothing wrong with that, really. Just like live action films, not every animated film needs to aspire to be an Oscar contender. Some are made just to entertain and make money.

[EricJ]

EricJ - please explain why the Madagascar series has been so successful in Australia.

I can't even explain why Yahoo Serious and Dame Edna were so successful in Australia!

But then I guess Madagascar had the advantage of riding the Shrek train and then once the first one was a hit mindless lemmings came back for the 2nd.

Think it wasn't until SharkTale (or Valiant?) that CGI-feature saturation had reached the point that we had stopped thinking it was "neato" just for showing up, and that the Pixar movies and Shrek 1 all came from the same factory.
The first Madagascar came before that point, but after that point...yeah, look how hard it was for people to give up the Shrek sequels.

[Dacey]

"Shark Tale" was before "Madagascar," and made more than $160 million in the US alone. Given those numbers, I don't see how that helped "change the way people looked at CGI."

[Ben]

Always good to see Eric hot on the facts. One day he might even be right!

[EricJ]

A 'Euro-caper' flick is a different direction than I'd expected, given the ending of Escape 2 Africa .. but I think it looks fun.

And while I won't accuse Katzenberg of cribbing every idea from certain other studios, having seen the trailer on the bigscreen this afternoon I would say:
Oh, sure, bringing your beloved iconic-franchise CGI characters for a hit sequel, this time on an exciting chase plot around globe-trotting European locales, I don't see any problem with that...What could go wrong?

[starlioness]

I dunno.. it reminds me too much of Open Season 3/Dumbo and maybe Cars 2 .. *shrug*

wasn't there supposed to be a Penguins movie (ala Puss In Boots) in a few years? ..

hmm.. Ice age vs Madagascar ..

well, Cars beat K.F.P at the B.O but KFP is more highly rated.. I know a lot of people are gonna forget about Cars 2 being a flop in a few years..

but Toy Story trounced Shrek last year critically and financially so who knows..

right now..I'm more tired of Madagascar than Ice age at the moment.

[laughingoctopus]

You must not have seen Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Madagascar 2 was far better than Ice Age 2 or 3 in my opinion.

[estefan]

I didn't like the first Madagascar, but it took until the third film for me to get tired of Ice Age (Scrat is still hilarious, though).

And while Cars 2 may have out-grossed Kung Fu Panda 2 domestically, the bear was more successful worldwide than the auto-mobiles were. Even the Smurfs did better than Cars 2.

[laughingoctopus]

I think I'm the only one here who found Scrat annoying. He felt like just the slapstick, super-marketable, animal character, and nothing more. Thrown in just so they could make dolls of him. Same with the minions from Despicable Me (I have to admit, I did kind of like them).