Sid
(John Leguizamo)
Manny (Ray Romano)
Diego (Denis Leary)
Soto (Goran Visnjic)
Leke (Jack Black)
Directed by Chris Wedge
Written by Peter Ackerman, Michael Berg and Michael J.
Wilson |
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Running
Time: 85 minutes Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Ice Age
is a wonderful family computer animated film full of laugh-out-loud
moments and warmth. This film doesn’t have the elaborate
storytelling of Toy Story or the eye-popping visuals of Shrek
or Dinosaur, but it is an entertaining piece for all audiences.
The story
is set in an “ice age”, where the animals are heading
southward to migrate. The three main characters are Manny
(Romano), who is a huge and smarter than average mammoth,
Sid (Leguizamo), who is a funny looking and always asking
for trouble sloth, and finally there is Diego (Leary), who
is an aggressive saber-toothed tiger with secrets of his own.
The three are brought together when they stumble upon a human
baby that is lost from its parents. Even knowing the risk
of being killed by the humans for meat and fur, the three
team together to return the baby to its kind. As the unlikely
team move along their journey, a common friendship forms between
them in many comedic situations.
Director
Chris Wedge and his writers Peter Ackerman, Michael Berg and
Michael Wilson create a fun tale that appeals mostly to children,
but also catches the inner-child in all of us adults. Though
the computer animation in the film isn’t as magnificent
as the recent films of the genre that audiences have seen,
Ice Age is unique in its own way. It is because this film
is computer animated, but the physical comedy of the characters
is consistent and humorous enough that Ice Age could have
worked just as being a cartoon. The characters are all identifiable
and every audience has met them before and their comedic wit
reminded me of watching a Warner Brothers Merry Melodies episode.
The writers
also balance the film well with drama that is heartfelt. Ice
Age is not only a comedy, but a story about friendship and
growth. Which are aspects that I believe should be the premise
of films aimed at very young audiences.
The voices
by the actors are recognizable and it is almost as if you
could see John Leguizamo doing the goofy things that Sid does.
The Ray Romano character, Manny, sarcastically tells Sid of
his stupidity, and constantly wants him to bug off, which
reminds me of his sarcasm on Everybody Loves Raymond.
The by
standard of the film is a saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat,
that only wants to protect his acorn. Scrat is the scene-stealer
of this film, even though he is on the screen for a maybe
ten minutes. The producers of the film used the opening sequence
of Scrat escaping from an avalanche as the film’s trailer,
and it ultimately paid dividends in attracting audiences.
Ice Age broke box office records last weekend, pulling in
over 45 million dollars in the three day take. So, if you
were the least bit intrigued by the trailer, there are a lot
funnier things from Scrat throughout the film.
I loved
Ice Age, it isn’t the best made computer animated film
by any means, but it works. Kids will absolutely fall in love
with this one. I saw Ice Age in a theater packed full of kids
and there was strong connection and a very loud applause when
the credits began to roll.
Report
Card Grade: B+
Beastman’s
Movie Reviews
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