Madagascar stars descend on Cannes

Ben Stiller and his Madagascar co-stars, including Jada Pinkett Smith and Frances McDormand, have descended on Cannes to launch the latest film in the franchise.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and its stars are set to hold a press conference to support the film, which is filmed in 3D.

Voices for the beloved menagerie are also supplied by Sacha Baron Cohen, David Schwimmer and Chris Rock.

The third film in the franchise sees Alex the lion (Stiller), Marty the zebra (Rock), hippo Gloria (Pinkett Smith) and Melman the giraffe (Schwimmer) determined to make their way back to the Central Park Zoo in New York City. They leave Africa behind, take a detour, and resurface in Europe.

It is not long before they are hunted by dogged French animal control officer Capitaine Chantel DuBois, played by McDormand, and decide to take cover in a down-and-out travelling circus.

Stiller, who was last seen opposite Eddie Murphy in Tower Heist, said: "The circus animals stopped taking risks.

"Alex has this brainstorm that the way to reinvent the show - to differentiate it from all others - is to reignite the performers' zeal, which they've lost.

"He tells them 'We don't need humans because we've got passion', then he uses his imagination and experience to pull it off."

It follows the first two highly successful films in the series - Madagascar in 2005 and its 2008 sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.