(L-R) Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Ray Ramono, Sean William Scott, Josh Peck, and Queen Latifah appears as the prehistoric creatures starring in 20th Centure Fox’s Ice Age: The Meltdown, Copyright 2006.
I can almost completely remember going to see the first Ice Age film back when I must have been in about 6th grade. Probably was my birthday party, I remember it opening in March and being there with some of my friends. Most of us enjoyed the movie and I’m pretty sure I have the DVD. When the three heroes of the film continue their traveling days after the resolution, I knew we were in for a sequel. So here it is:
In Carlos Saldanha’s Ice Age: The Meltdown, Manny the Wooly Mammoth (Ray Romano) the lonely and believes he may be the last of his kind, being he has not seen any other mammoths since the death of his family (we were familiarized with the story back in the first film). He manages to keep himself together, his best friends Diego (Denis Leary) the Saber-toothed Cat, who in the first film struggled against his own pack to bring Manny down, and Sid (John Leguizamo), the annoying and consistently energized Giant Sloth.
When the ice (ice, baby) begins to melt, the three (Manny, Sid, and Diego, I know it sounds like the kids you went to play ball with in Central Park when you where a kid), as well as the other prehistoric animals (including Jay Leno as Fast Tony, a prehistoric turtle) living in a bowl shaped valley are forced to head towards what’s known to be a boat. Along there way they meet two rambunctious possums, Eddie and Crash (Josh Peck and Sean William Scott, respectively), as well as their big sister, a Mammoth named Ellie (Queen Latifah) who believes she also is a possum. And a very large one at that. The six travel together, all attempting to face their own fears. Diego has a water problem, Sid is just Sid and is a problem for everyone (not to mention he has a run in with miniature Sloths who worship him and decide to sacrifice him) and is a problem for everyone, and Manny hopes to get through to Ellie that they need to repopulate the species.
On that note, I would just like to remind you, reader, that this film is rated PG. There is plenty of romantic tension between the two, that is of course when they aren’t fighting. The fighting reminded me a lot of Everybody Loves Raymond, in which Ray and Debra constantly fought and they ended up not speaking until the end of the episode because they’re both just one of the most annoying television couples of all time. And yes, Ray’s voice does get to you after about an hour and half, triple the time of an episode with commercials. Pay attention to the story and you’ll be fine.
Peter Gaulke’s screenplay takes on the familiar adventure we had in the first film for the most part, and surprisingly, the peril we experience is almost exactly the same, a scene in the first film included an ice bridge over a volcano and in this film we get a rock balancing act over a canyon. There are one or two instances of perhaps to intense peril for the kiddies, one of which involves the unseen mauling and killing of a character by the reanimated monsters, one a purple crocodilian caused by the melting of everything. The jokes are funny even though they’re meant for kids around age 10, I still got a good kick or two out of them. Plenty of which involving bowel movement, relations, or wastes, along with a low-key note about Global Warming.
We get about two real musical numbers, one of which involves the hunting vultures eating the dead, doing a take off of a song from Oliver! which was surprisingly entertaining.
Scrat (Chris Wedge) the frustrated prehistoric squirrel is back and is continuing his quest to hold onto his acorn (oaks? Where?). Scrat originally appeared in a CGI short similar to many scenes in the first film. Not too mention, he’s a great way to advertise for these films. He’s become an icon among kids. Whenever we see the white of the snow and we hear “Eek, eek!” the sounds of him struggling to get his acorn and then we hear the crunching of ice and we see him being hurled down a cliff or something along those lines. “Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” We know, Ice Age and Manny, Sid, and Diego come to mind.
The CGI of the film remains the same and still decent, effects these days have pulled a little forward, but it would be very silly to change the whole look of the sequel.
Unfortunately, in an animated feature, all you have to really rely on is the story and writing considering no one is doing any acting. This story happens to be diluted with too much of the water seen in the film and the magic of the first film has almost drowned. (It’s a good film for the kids, though some material is a tad risky)
Rated PG for some mild language and innuendo. Running time 95 minutes.