[etRating value=“ 4”]In my 2006 review for Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, I said that a third Ice Age would be a welcome proposition. Just look how right I was.
Now that this smug statement is out of the way, the review can commence. Picking up roughly 22 months (presuming theories about mammoths’ gestation periods are correct…) after the events of the watered-down leakquel, DotD finds woolly mammoths Manny and Ellie (voiced by Ray Romano and Queen Latifah) caught up in the expectation of their first little tusked toddler while Diego the sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) gets itchy padded paws craving excitement and adventure. Of course you should always be careful what you wish for, especially with Sid the trouble-magnet sloth (John Leguizamo) as part of your herd.
Finding a trio of oversized eggs seemingly abandoned under the ice, Sid rescues them before nursing them to hatching. What emerges are three tiny T. rexs, followed swiftly by one giant angry mama Tyrannosaurus. Taking her offspring back home with Sid along for the ride as well, his friends are left with no alternative but to follow below ice level on a rescue mission and more adventure than Diego could ever wish for.
The best Ice Age instalment yet, which bodes well for the already-in-production number thaw (sorry), Dawn of the Dinosaurs initially threatens to be no more than your standard frosty era fare. Then this threequel shakes things up by descending to dinoworld and simultaneously ascending to a higher entertainment plane.
Brilliant, laugh-out-loud funny and, at times, a little bit bonkers, DotD is akin to its best character Buck the dino hunter. Voiced by Brit man-of-the-moment Simon Pegg doing his best Pirates of the Caribbean parody, Buck is a one-eyed weasel (stop sniggering at the back) on a mission to bring down the ubersaurus that rules the underground realm. Taking a time-out from Jurassic-hunting to help our anthromorphised heroes track down Sid, Buck steals the show in the same way Scrat has previously, hogging all the best lines of sniggersome dialogue.
That said, in an inspired montage sequence, Scrat’s elusive acorn appears lonely and jealous without his attentions after they are turned through the course of the film by female squirrel Scratte (Karen Disher). Without doubt the most emotionally-stirring inanimate object since Winston the volleyball in Cast Away, this is also one of the more surreal scenes you’ll see in any film this year and the perfect way to summarise the bonkers brilliance here.
Now that this smug statement is out of the way, the review can commence. Picking up roughly 22 months (presuming theories about mammoths’ gestation periods are correct…) after the events of the watered-down leakquel, DotD finds woolly mammoths Manny and Ellie (voiced by Ray Romano and Queen Latifah) caught up in the expectation of their first little tusked toddler while Diego the sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) gets itchy padded paws craving excitement and adventure. Of course you should always be careful what you wish for, especially with Sid the trouble-magnet sloth (John Leguizamo) as part of your herd.
Finding a trio of oversized eggs seemingly abandoned under the ice, Sid rescues them before nursing them to hatching. What emerges are three tiny T. rexs, followed swiftly by one giant angry mama Tyrannosaurus. Taking her offspring back home with Sid along for the ride as well, his friends are left with no alternative but to follow below ice level on a rescue mission and more adventure than Diego could ever wish for.
The best Ice Age instalment yet, which bodes well for the already-in-production number thaw (sorry), Dawn of the Dinosaurs initially threatens to be no more than your standard frosty era fare. Then this threequel shakes things up by descending to dinoworld and simultaneously ascending to a higher entertainment plane.
Brilliant, laugh-out-loud funny and, at times, a little bit bonkers, DotD is akin to its best character Buck the dino hunter. Voiced by Brit man-of-the-moment Simon Pegg doing his best Pirates of the Caribbean parody, Buck is a one-eyed weasel (stop sniggering at the back) on a mission to bring down the ubersaurus that rules the underground realm. Taking a time-out from Jurassic-hunting to help our anthromorphised heroes track down Sid, Buck steals the show in the same way Scrat has previously, hogging all the best lines of sniggersome dialogue.
That said, in an inspired montage sequence, Scrat’s elusive acorn appears lonely and jealous without his attentions after they are turned through the course of the film by female squirrel Scratte (Karen Disher). Without doubt the most emotionally-stirring inanimate object since Winston the volleyball in Cast Away, this is also one of the more surreal scenes you’ll see in any film this year and the perfect way to summarise the bonkers brilliance here.
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