Alphabetical Movie – Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

Those who have been following my Alphabetical Movie Blog closely might have noticed that I’m writing about Madagascar 3 without having taken the time to write about the two films that, presumably, preceded it.

Thing is, I don’t own either one of them.  The rules of the project clearly dictate that I’m only watching movies I own.  It just so happens that the only movie I own in the Madagascar trilogy is the most recent.

I think that the explanation is simple.  Here it is:

I don’t own the other two Madagascar films because I think they are OK.  And my kids think they are OK.  We simply haven’t had any pressing need to pick up a copy of either one of them.

That Circus Afro song, though.  That constitutes a “pressing need.”

If you would like me to explain why I cannot get enough of a fifteen second song sung by Chris Rock voicing a polka dotted zebra, I have no words.  It is, simply, an absurd moment that fills me with primal glee.

My admission should not be taken as some sort of shame.  I’m not the only person who was totally gaga over a fifteen second joke in a 90 minute movie.  Once the film was released, they made a new trailer that basically acknowledged the fact there was a subset of their audience that was interested in only one thing.

Because I have kids, I’ve seen most of the “kid” movies in my house multiple times, even if it is just in the background.  So it is with this film.  I know there are other parts to the movie and yet I can’t remember them because they are eclipsed by a gigantic rainbow colored clown wig.

I love it even though it was the only song my children sang for at least a week after we saw the film on initial release.  Generally, that behavior makes me want to find every copy of the song in existence and smash it with a hammer.

Yes, I believe there is a way to smash an iTunes version of a song with a hammer.

But something almost sinister happened with this particular snippet of music.  I wanted to sing along with my kids.

Look, there are very few movies that I can recall scene for scene.  The best movies have slow points.  And movies I love more than anything might get re-watched once a year at most.  I may not be able to recall most of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted but the truth is, I like it enough that I’m willing to watch the rest of the movie for that moment.

It isn’t even that a singing zebra clown is the funniest thing ever featured in an animated film.

But it is silly and absurd and (if you haven’t seen the trailer) unexpected.  It stays with you and makes you like the rest of the film just a little bit more.

There are few enough scenes like that in any movie.  Don’t judge me for enjoying that scene in this movie.