David Schwimmer as Melman, a giraffe and another of Alex's friends and the love interest of Gloria The story continues from the events of the second film. Alex (Ben Stiller) has a nightmare about himself and his friends still stranded in Africa and finding they have all gotten old. Awaking from his dream, Alex suggests to Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer), and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) that they should go to Monte Carlo to get the penguins to fly them back to New York City, which they agree to. In Monte Carlo, the penguins and the two chimpanzees, Mason and Phil (disguising as the King of Versailles), keep winning in gambling until Alex's gang's attempt to reach them blunders and sparks chaos in the Hotel De Paris. Hotel security calls Monaco Animal Control officer Captain Chantel DuBois (Frances McDormand) to deal with the animals. But rather than capture them live, DuBois desires them, mainly Alex, dead as trophies. During a high-speed chase between the relentless DuBois and the animals in a truck driven by the penguins to reach their aircraft, the animals barely manage to elude her. In the skies of France, the plane's engines fail again and the plane crashes into a suburban rail yard as the authorities close in. Seeing their only chance of escape is on a circus train, the four larger animals desperately claim that they are circus animals themselves, which convinces circus mates Stefano the sea lion (Martin Short) and Gia the jaguar (Jessica Chastain) to let them in despite the protests of Vitaly the tiger (Bryan Cranston). The animals soon learn from Stefano that they are performing in Rome and London, where they plan to impress a promoter to get them on their first American tour. Before the zoo animal's claim is discredited, the penguins suddenly appear with a deal to purchase the circus themselves, resulting in the pleased departure of all the humans. Meanwhile, Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen) falls in love with Sonya the bear (Frank Welker) and goes on a city tour across Rome while the others prepare for the performance at the Roman Coliseum. To the zoo animals' horror, the circus proves so inept that the angered audience demands refunds to the point of chasing the circus to the departing train to London. En route to London, the zoo gang is in despair of having wasted their money on the failing circus and not being any closer to getting home. Stefano soon reveals to Alex that Vitaly was once their inspiration. Once a professional ring jumper always pushing himself to the limit, his attempt at jumping through a flaming pinkie ring ended in disaster when he burned his fur, which he had coated in flammable olive oil in order to slip through the narrow opening, destroying his confidence in his talent and the whole circus suffered by his example. An inspired Alex then has the train make a stop at the Alps and convinces the performers to rework their act to become the opposite of the successful human-only Cirque du Soleil as an animal-only circus. Heartened by Alex's vision, the zoo animals and the circus animals develop sophisticated acts together and become closer friends in the process, and Alex and Gia find themselves falling in love during their time together. Meanwhile, DuBois is detained in Rome after causing problems with the local police officers while chasing the animals out of her jurisdiction, but escapes and researches Alex on the Internet, learning he was missing from the zoo in New York. Once accomplished, DuBois recruits her injured men and heads toward the Alps, forcing the animals to proceed to London despite their incomplete rehearsals. In London, the troupe prepares for the promoter in the audience, but Vitaly is discovered packing to leave. Alex convinces Vitaly to stay by reminding him of how he enjoys performing the impossible and suggests that he use conditioner shampoo as a safer lubricant to perform his flaming ring jump. As a result, Vitaly's stunt is performed perfectly, which proves to be just the opening of a spectacularly successful show. After the impressed promoter arranges for an American tour, DuBois shows up with a paper showing that Alex was missing. Though the penguins are able to foil DuBois' plan to capture Alex, Alex is forced to confess that the four of them are just zoo animals trying to get home, disappointing the others who feel used and lied to. Finally, both the zoo animals and the circus arrive in New York City. However, the circus finds that they are incomplete without Alex's gang. The zoo group finally returns to the gates of the closed Central Park Zoo, only to realize that their time outside had changed them too much for them to return to captivity. Unfortunately, they are then tranquilized and captured by DuBois. The zoo staff, delighted by Alex's reappearance, thank DuBois, incorrectly believing that she was trying to return the missing animals. Julien manages to reach the circus (despite being darted) and the penguins realize that the group had been ambushed. Upon learning about the zoo animals' plight, Gia convinces the circus animals to rescue their friends and they set out for the zoo, performing aboard a flying circus, with the rescue mission dubbed "Operation: Afro Circus." Meanwhile at the zoo, Alex awakens to find that he along with Marty, Melman, and Gloria are in their enclosures, surrounded by tall chain-link fences to keep them from escaping again. DuBois steps on stage to receive a million-dollar check of appreciation from the zoo, but at the same time loads a poison dart into a gun hidden inside a foam finger in preparation to kill Alex. The circus animals arrive in time to stop her and a massive brawl occurs where the circus uses all of what they had developed as part of their revamped act to rescue their friends. As the group tries to leave, DuBois attempts to kill Stefano, who is stranded at the zoo. However, Alex saves Stefano and together, they defeat DuBois and escape. Realizing that they truly belong with their new friends, Alex and his friends decide to join the circus permanently. The animals all happily proceed with their American tour, while DuBois and her men find themselves, oddly enough just like Alex and his friends in the first film, inside crates on a cargo ship bound for Madagascar.
No comments:
Post a Comment