Movie spotlights: 'Madagascar 3' and 'Peace, Love & Misunderstanding'

MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE'S MOST WANTED

"Madagascar 3" is one of the fanciest, most carefully assembled cartoons ever put on the screen. The jokes come so fast they're nearly subliminal. Your brain goes breathless and giddy struggling to keep up. The film starts with Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and the rest of the refugees from the Central Park Zoo still stranded in Africa. This one is almost too good to leave to the kids. (Rating: PG.)

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PEACE, LOVE & MISUNDERSTANDING

If "Peace, Love & Misunderstanding" strikes you as a thigh-slappingly witty title, there's a chance you will enjoy the entire film. There is plenty of talent on hand, but no one really glows. Catherine Keener plays an uptight lawyer in the throes of a divorce. She decides to visit Jane Fonda, her unregenerate hippie mother. Elizabeth Olsen is the quippy daughter along for the ride. The dramedy's serious moments are wearisome and the comedy is humor-free forced zaniness. Theoretically, there may have been a way to make this amusing, but this film does not find it. (Unrated.)