L'Âge de glace

Excellent computer-generated animated feature that makes a case for one of the finest films of 2002. It is the frozen era and prehistoric animals try to find their way to land that is warmer and drier. An early group of human hunters become the hunted themselves as a group of sabertooth tigers begin to plot revenge. As an attack occurs, a small infant child is taken out of harm's way. Enter a kind wooly mammoth (voiced by the priceless Ray Romano) and a silly sloth (voiced by John Leguizamo) who find the young child and decide to return it to the humans. It appears that a sabertooth tiger (Denis Leary) is helping the duo, but his motives are devious as he is trying to lead them all into a trap of other sabertooth tigers. The film is another great animated piece of film-making that has important messages for the youngsters and is also highly entertaining for all audiences. 5 stars out of 5.

This was great. I liked it better than I did Shrek, by far. 'Manfred' and the Squirrel really take the cake here-excellant voice work, nice animation of the character faces, Denis Leary was a hoot too....with just the right amount of an edge, as is usual for him.

Some of the vignettes-the Dodos, (You've got three melons), etc are right up there with anything Pixar has done. I also thought that the little montage of Mannfred's parent's(cave drawings come to life) were done well too.

As for the messages-'Non-trad families are okay too-', people can work together, etc.-well, all are pretty obvious and all that-but it's not hammered home ala Disney, and you also don't have anyone breaking out into song, either.

See it for the Mammoth and the squirrel, though the Sloth is fun too. Cute kid baby too, not far removed from 'Boo' in Monsters Inc.

*** outta ****

Just saw ICE AGE, a very funny and especially nice looking film. The story is simple but effective, the characters lovable and nicely fleshed out but what really shines is the digital set design.

More inspired by traditional animated movies than reality, the designs give you a really, really nice looking world in a astounding use of colour. Sometimes the touches of reality shine through (especially the water was impressive), but nonetheless, it's a fantasy-world based on reality. Including loads of vast landscapes especially helps to minimise the costs of rendering.

Pixar films shine with technical brilliance, this one shines with effective uses of technical know-how.

Enough technical babble, the film's entertaining, family-friendly and sometimes just hilariously funny.

It always seems to be with these computer animated movies, to have a charm all it's own, humor that usually works all around, and (a flaw to be sure) the same plot elements fitted into different settings (notice how friendship, betrayal and a climax involving kids in some way fit into every animated movie in the past 7 years outside of Antz). Ice Age follows that tradition being the first 20th Century Fox computer animated movie from Bunny director Chris Wedge, and it has an undeniable sweetness that can strike young and old alike. This also goes with the laughs too.

Manfred (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), and Diego (Denis Leary) join together, obvious un-wantingly at first, to return a baby to it's father. That's the plot-line and it works in it's typical way, borrowing from the two good computer flicks from last year as well (Monster's Inc. and Shrek). But what keeps young and old and inbetween alike in their seats is not the story but rather the good natured and silly humor, convinving if not always realistic surroundings and splendid voice work by the three leads. A fine movie.

One more note: while Leary, Romano and Leguizamo show off their capabilities, I jest to forget who steals a good chunk of the movie- a little squirrel chasing after an all important acorn nut throughout the pan of the movie. Truth be told, he deserves his own TV show. A-

With a relatively small budget for an animated film of only $60 million the people at Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios have done an incredible job.

They have combined state-of-the-art digital animation, the perfectly cast voice talents of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Dennis Leary (among many others) to create a highly entertaining, family film with a strong message about cooperation, friendship and caring for your fellow herd members. And how sometimes it takes many different creatures to make up a herd.

While watching this film I got a strong political message about getting along with the people that share your space -- maybe it should be required viewing for all world leaders!

David Newman -- yet another member of the Newman family of Hollywood composers -- provides a superb score that is not intrusive yet serves to move the action along and, at times, is positively toe tapping.

The overall look of the film is incredible; an intensely coloured, strangely believable fantasyland of snow, geysers, mud, rocks and ice. The individual characters were delightfully believable too, with the facial expressions of Ray Romano's ‘Manfred' being a particular treat.

The entire sequence with the DoDos will leave no doubt as to where the expression `Dumb as a DoDo comes from.'

This is a good family film that keeps the things that could alarm or frighten children pretty much sanitized -- but real nonetheless.

It would be a great movie to see in the theater and to buy for home.