Filmtracks: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (Hans Zimmer/Various)

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Written 3/15/22

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Buy it... on the short commercial album only if you can satisfy yourself with the most basic survey of songs and score from this eclectic, quasi-musical parody soundtrack.

Avoid it... if you desire rousing performances of Hans Zimmer's two main franchise themes, their adaptations smart in the third entry but entangled in action and suspense of lesser quality.

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Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted: (Hans Zimmer/Various) Though lacking in intelligence, the Madagascar franchise continued to rake in money with 2012's Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, the filmmakers' intention with this entry being a reset of the main group of escaped zoo animals so that they return to New York, where the first story began. Having traversed Madagascar and Africa, their route takes them through Europe in the third movie, the unlikely gang joining a touring circus along the way. The plot allows new characters with that circus to be developed, and the penguins causing trouble in every stop earned their own spin-off film after this one. Notable is the addition of a villain, Captain DuBois, who spends the film chasing the animals with the intent of adding one of their heads to her collection. It's dumb fun for toddlers, and while DreamWorks spun off other media based on the concept, a promised fourth film with the original characters did not materialize as planned. The music for these movies has always been dominated by the song placements and parody usage that are pervasive in their mix, the characters never far from breaking out into song. The adaptation of the 1993 dance song, "I Like to Move It," remains the musical identity of the franchise thanks to Sacha Baron Cohen's popular performance of that tune in the first movie, its presence continuing in this one courtesy Chris Rock and Danny Jacobs. The latter actor portrays the circus master in the story and therefore performs several of the major parody song placements on the soundtrack. More than the previous entries, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is extremely heavy on the interpolation of famous mainstream song and classical melodies into the score, and Hans Zimmer returns to coordinate those efforts. Like its predecessors, this score is a culmination of talents from his Remote Control Productions studio, with Lorne Balfe as the lead ghostwriter. Most notably joining the party is Tom Holkenborg, who was tasked with providing the snazzier swing, rock and otherwise penguin-related music for this score. Balfe, meanwhile, adapts the other action and more sensitive character passages, careful to continue applications of Zimmer's two main franchise themes.

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The tone of the soundtrack for Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is highly familiar, though with no high-profile artist co-writing new songs this time, Zimmer's role in defining the direction of the whole package is bigger. The adapted songs performed by Jacobs are adequate but obnoxious, and Frances McDormand's performance of the famously French "Non Je Ne Regrette Rien" as DuBois conveys the right humor. Original is Peter Asher's rendition of the Italian "Love Always Comes as a Surprise," combining with the other tunes to give this soundtrack a more musical feeling. Some of the interpolations of famous tunes are outright intolerable, though, Rock's version of "Afro Circus" from popular circus associations of "Entrance of the Gladiators" being atrocious. In the score, Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" is the only piece that really figures on the haphazard commercial album release, which naturally concentrates on the vocalized portions and throws a Katy Perry song in to push additional units. That product only features about 15 minutes of truly original score, barely touching upon each aspect of that score and containing only some of the work's highlights. Diminished, for instance, is the Holkenborg penguin material and the Russian style for Vitaly the tiger, both playing a substantial role in the score. Also missing are the most notable humorous references to other film music staples that pop up occasionally. The "New York City Surprise" track is a decent edit of three cues from first half of score while "Light the Hoop on Fire!" is actually the cue "Circus Zaragoza/Vitaly's Story." The "Rescue Stefano" track is a combination of "Back to NY" and "Rescue Stefano;" "Fur Power!" matches much of "Circus is in Here" with the Elgar piece. Representing the DuBois theme is "Game On," an edit of the "DuBois on the Scene" cue and presenting this score's primary new theme of waltz movements with pounding Zimmer melodramatics. The "Rescue Stefano" track on the album offers all the themes in major performances, the DuBois waltz in full menace mode in the middle, though it's not as well rendered via what sounds like sampled brass here. Those enamored with Zimmer's existing themes will hear them throughout the score, with Vitaly's material adapting the main escape theme into massive Russian choral parody. Expect the ensemble and specialty contributors to sound mostly familiar outside of Holkenborg's cues.

On the frightfully short commercial album for Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, the main escape theme is heard early in "New York City Surprise" in full orchestral form, but not for long, though it does drive the action later in the suite-like track. The big Russian interlude for the theme follows in "Light the Hoop on Fire!" before the idea returns to familiar action antics. It opens "Back to NY"/"Rescue Stefano" with exhaustion but high volume, courtesy Holkenborg. The happy-go-lucky friendship theme occurs in the "We Gotta Get Home" middle portion of "New York City Surprise," offering a nice oboe solo, with a great finale for the melody by the full ensemble at the end, as arranged by Balfe. The theme marches during "Fur Power!," extending out of the "Pomp and Circumstance" rendition. The "Back to NY" cue, the first half of "Rescue Stefano" on album, contains a redemptive interlude for the friendship theme as well. These tracks only touch upon the real narrative of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, though, which is fairly decent if not ruined by the disparate tone of Holkenborg's contributions. Of the unreleased cues, Balfe's work provides most of the highlights, starting with the celebratory African performance of the friendship theme in "Opening" and the lightly plucked main escape theme rhythm in "New York City" that isn't featured on the album edit of the cue. A nice flourish for the friendship theme follows in "I Wish We Could Go Home," and Balfe extends a major, abbreviated fragment of the main theme to "Main Title" and mingles the idea with suspense in new espionage style in "I'm Gonna Lead." To be avoided is some of Holkenborg's annoying source material, including "Chimp Hotel Source." His swing music for the spy factor and penguin characters is really tough to digest in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, "Casino Escape," "Meet DuBois/Escape Continues," Luxury Assault Urban Recreational Vehicle," and "Monte Carlo Chase Pt 1" all suffering from this abrasively noisy personality, though the latter two cues do interpolate the escape theme. "Monte Carlo Chase, Pt. 2" and "Monte Carlo Chase Pt 3" continue that hectic, dashingly excessive style but with the DuBois waltz in tow before turning back to the escape theme. This middle section of the score represents most of Holkenborg's contribution to the team, and while it achieves its basic purpose, its style is a little too far removed from the rest of Zimmer and Balfe's music to really feel like a comfortable fit.

The narrative of the score for Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted emphasizes familiar themes as the new characters get to know the existing ones. A nice friendship theme performance dissolves in "Julian is Saved," the main escape theme experiences many variations (not all in the commercial album edit) in "The Fuzz/Meet the Circus/Escape," and "Knife Sting/We're Going to America" returns to a solemn version of friendship theme with a comedic end. Balfe develops the Russian choral chanting in "Vitality" but quickly shifts to Bernard Herrmann horror imitations in "Meet Sonja the Bear." The main theme becomes skittish in "DuBois Tracks the Zoosters," though a major brass rendition of the idea later in the cue builds to a dissonant crescendo. A similar tact is taken in "DuBois/Where There is Smoke There is Lion," the DuBois theme bursting through on electric guitar. Balfe takes the DuBois theme to super melodramatic levels on strings, piano, and choir in "DuBois Escapes," both the returning themes adapted well in the subsequently swirling tumult of "Where Did Alex Go?" A short flourish of the friendship theme in victory highlights "Phase 4-7B." A top parody cue is "Cannonball," Balfe helping adapt everything from funny yodeling to adaptations of Alan Silvestri's Back to the Future and John Barry's Born Free (a franchise staple), building to an excellently riotous version of main escape theme. This cue needed to be on the commercial album. The tender character material in "Training Montage/Alex and Gia" is interrupted by Holkenborg dance music in the middle, though his rocking "Training Montage" version of the friendship theme isn't too bad. Balfe does comedic takes on the DuBois and main themes "Circus Train," its choral conclusion leading to powerful Russian chanting in a huge crescendo during "Alex Encourages Vitaly," which resolves well to the main theme for the chorus. Likewise, this material needed included on the commercial album as well. A nice adaptation of the popular "Time to Say Goodbye" song is provided by Balfe for "Julian and Sonja Breakup," and he offers a large but sad resolution for the main theme in the bittersweet "Back in the Zoo." The score's climax by Balfe features slow and deliberate choral fright for the DuBois theme in "DuBois and the Venom," where the idea is adapted well into action chasing mode and clashes with the main escape theme appropriately. Overall, like Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, a much larger share of score material needed to be included on the commercial album for Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. The third score may not be as cohesive as the second, but it also deserves better treatment despite its questionable Holkenborg contributions. @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Score as Written for the Film: ***
Music as Heard on Album: **
Overall: **

Bias Check:

For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.85 (in 128 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.96 (in 299,193 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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