Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

Thanks to Crowdtap I was able to go to a prescreening of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted last weekend. 

Not only did I get to go but I was able to have a plus 1.  While I do love me some cartoon movies (especially Disney/Pixar) I don't usually go to the movie theater to see them.  The last cartoon I went to see in theater was...Horton Hears A Who and that was because my (great) niece & nephew specifically asked me to go.  I had about 6 "age appropriate" candidates to choose from to be my date.  My top 3 choices (based on how excited they would be to see the movie) couldn't go, which was a major bummer since their excitement was what made me want to see the movie.  I lucked out though because my niece Elizabeth wanted to go (which I would have never ever had guessed) and was just as excited (if not more excited) even though she's 25 years old.

Elizabeth & me

What made the prospect of going to the prescreening even more fun was the fact that one of my BFF's is also a Crowdtap member and was selected to go with her plus one (her 5 year old daughter).  Fun quality time with one of your favorite people is pretty cool... but fun quality time with three of your favorite people is awesome!

Crystal & Bug

I've heard there was a lot of confusion & miscommunication at some of the other events in different states but we were extremely lucky and didn't have a problem.  I can see how it could have/would have been confusing though.  There were lines outside the theater, lines inside the theater and not always clearly marked places/people you needed to see to get entrance.  Again, we were lucky and figured it out fairly easy.  


Upon entering the theater there was a large event table in front of one of the designated theaters, a smaller event table in front of another designated theater, and a corner set up specifically to entertain the little "Zoosters".  That corner was filled with penguins.  Let me say that again...PENGUINS!  Real.  Live.  PENGUINS!!


I'm pretty sure they were of the Magellanic Penguin variety.  There was two of them and they were awesome!  They were behind a plexiglass set up with two wranglers and all the little kids could go and sit right up in front of the plexiglass and hang out.  I seriously considered skipping the movie and hanging out with the penguins instead.

Bug & the PENGUINS!

I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted with the Penguins nor did I manage to grab a photo for myself because we ended up in the worst. concession. line. EVER!  The lady in front of us was ordering for at least 10 (no exaggeration!) and it was the slowest process ever.  By the time we got to our designated theater (the small one) there was no good seats where the 4 of us could sit together, so we sat in the middle of the 2nd row.  


On our way into the theater we discovered that we were seeing the 3D version.  I know the movie poster (which I got from the Crowdtap site) says 3D but I never picked up on that prior to going to the movie.  I was extremely nervous about being in the 2nd row (I got sea sick while sitting there when I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian -as a chaperon for a b-day party-) and especially since it was 3D.  Luckily, I had no problems.  


The movie was cute and exactly what most cartoons are... extremely silly.  It still had a good message threaded through the zoosters adventures.  I haven't seen that much florescent colors since I was a child in the 80's.  I am not a dabbler in the psychedelic drugs (or any drugs for that matter) but I'm guessing a trip would totally feel like watching half of this movie.  All in all it kept all the kids around us entertained, and I assume all the kids not around us.  The penguins are probably still my favorite of the zooster group but they strictly provide the comic moments and don't have to do any of the heavy lifting the other central characters have to.  It's a perfect silly movie to go take your kids to see this summer.