MIB 3 Totally Holds Up; Madagascar 3 Funny

Following my disappointment with Snow White and the Huntsman, I turned to humor to cheer me up, and so, last night I went to see the third movie in a franchise I have been hooked on since I was 12. Men In Black 3. And I have to say. It TOTALLY holds up. You can never be sure with sequels, but there is something about MIB that they are doing right. I don't know if it's the actors, producers, writers or directors, but honest to God, this movie is exactly what I expected. True, in the beginning, there's some "Okay, yeah, it's still funny, but haven't we done this young funny guy annoyed with cranky old man bit before?", but they take it and keep going on to the next level, going back in time to show Agent K before he was a cranky old man, when he just a young, 29 year old Junior Agent. And the actor they found to play him? Perfect. Josh Brolin captures all the nuances of Tommy Lee Jones' Agent K and plays them up just right. Those lifelong ticks are still there, but with a younger, more relaxed feel to them, just enough to make you think you're really, seriously looking at a younger Tommy Lee Jones (at least for those of us born in an age where he's got white hair. I have honestly never seen Tommy Lee Jones young). They even got his EYEBROWS right! I was completely flabbergasted at that, I assure you! Will Smith's performance is flawless, as usual. There's really nothing more I can say about it. Flawless.

The story line follows the MIB formula, threatening evil Alien, potential invasion, must save the world, reveals more about K's past, but once again introduces new elements to make it feel fresh. (SPOILER: And not only do we learn about K's past, but there's a nice little tidbit about J in there as well.) So all in all, (voted by myself, my fiancé and the couple we went out with). MIB 3 holds up.

My other adventure into the comedy realm this weekend was Madagascar 3. Now, to be honest, I had never actually seen the first two. I tried to watch the first one, but was working graveyards and going on something close to 17 hours without sleep when my best friend and I put it on, so I fell asleep not all that far into it. Then there was no point in seeing the second, since I hadn't seen the first. In recent years, there's been so much hype about Madagascar, that I just avoided the series altogether. But, they used one brilliantly entertaining piece in their trailer to get me hooked on seeing the third. Especially after watching my fiancé  lose his mind laughing at it.

This bit very quickly became a favourite among our friends, being song as loudly as possible at completely random moments in time, both privately and publicly. So it wasn't that hard to decide that this third one would be the one I watched, and you know what? It. Was. HILARIOUS. I suddenly understand all the hype, all the non-stop jabber, why kids and adults alike hail this series. I never thought I'd be on the Madagascar bandwagon. But I assure I will most definitely be watching the first two in the near future.