Neil Fox on film: Madagascar 3, Frankenweenie

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

The king is on the loose again in the delightful and funny third film from the Madagascar set, writes guest reviewer Alison Devlin.

Brought to you by DreamWorks, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is set to be a real crowd pleaser.

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With its new characters and exciting adventures, the gang of escapee animals begins their adventure running riot on the streets of Monte Carlo attracting unwanted attention from a super cop, Captain Chantel DuBois (voiced by Frances McDormand), in their attempt to get back to The Big Apple.

Loosely following on from the events of the second film, Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) and his friends are still stranded in Africa waiting for their ride back to New York. After having a bad dream about growing old and still waiting, Alex takes it into his own paws and the group set off around Europe, bringing with them disruption, laughter and a whole lot of animal antics.

If not taken too seriously, this can be an enjoyable and humorous film for family of all ages.

With comedy talent such as Stiller, Chris Rock (Marty the Zebra), David Schwimmer (Melman the Giraffe) and Jada Pickett-Smith (Gloria the Hippo) you’re guaranteed ninety-three minutes of entertainment.

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As usual, the returning cast is top notch, though scenes with our favourite Lemur-king and his sidekick Maurice are rare. That doesn’t stop them having their own storyline in which our crazy dancing monarch falls in love with someone who you wouldn’t imagine to be his type…

Fun loving, family-friendly and children pleasing, Madagascar 3 will be the talk of the playground in the next coming month.

Frankenweenie

It seems that by returning to his roots, Tim Burton has found his mojo again.

This stop-motion fable is a feature-length adaptation of Burton’s own short film, one of the shorts that brought him to attention and prominence at the start of his career. It’s good to see him tackling his own stories again, and going hands on, tactile, rather than adapting and using CGI lazily.

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Scepticism is cast aside by a passionate and light touch, and beautifully crafted animation. It lacks the depth of his best work but it is a return to form.

The story revolves around a young boy, Victor, heartbroken over the death of his beloved dog. He finds a way to bring the pooch back to life and at the start it’s fine, his companion is back, but it’s what he has brought back with him, and what has been unleashed that starts to cause mayhem. A strong voice cast, filled with actors rather than stars, adds some weight, and it just feels, well, Burton-esque. Good to have him back, let’s hope he is here to stay

Paranormal Activity 4

Really? It’s still going on? People still want it? But it’s no good. The first one wasn’t even that good. So why? Oh money. Ok. The fourth instalment is no improvement on the previous three.