L'Âge de glace 2

When the valley where they live is threatened by the melt of the surrounding ice, the mammoth Manny, the sloth Sid and the saber-toothed tiger Diego advise the other animals to look for shelter outside the place. While escaping, the trio meets Ellie, a female mammoth that believes she is an opossum like her two mischievous brothers. Meanwhile, the squirrel Scrat tries to retrieve his walnut in the most unusual situations.

"Ice Age: The Meltdown" is a funny sequel of "Ice Age", with many hilarious situations. Again, the squirrel Scrat "steals" most of the scenes, recalling the MGM animated theatrical shorts cartoons of "Tom & Jerry" that I used to see in the matinées when I was a kid. The situation of Ellie, who is convinced that is an opossum, also made me laugh a lot. The shameful and expensive DVD released in Brazil by Fox do Brasil distributor does not have the original audio in English, only in Portuguese and Spanish; further, does not have any Extra. Shame on you Fox do Brasil! My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Era do Gelo 2" ("The Ice Age 2")

In 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' the gang is back. Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), and Diego (Denis Leary) find themselves in a post-ice age catastrophe. The ice is melting and they have to move the herd out of the valley before it becomes a lake. Fortunately, they do not have to worry about any carnivorous dinosaurs. They are all extinct, or are they? This was a cute film worthy of the original. The kids will really enjoy it. I thought the best part was that Scrat, the acorn-loving rodent, has a larger role to play in this movie. Queen Latifah is also really good as Ellie, the mammoth that thinks she is a possum.

I did think the original 'Ice Age' was a better movie, but this one is pretty good.

The children liked it but they weren't riveted. That's the short of it. It wasn't a shocking disaster, but it was just a bit muddled. A little scattered. Fragmented. It failed to engage me.

But let's be positive. The writers wisely decided to vastly expand the role of Scrat the Squirrel in this version. Periodically we get to take a break from watching the mammoth, sloth, tiger, possums, and other mammoth walk very slowly along toward the vague "other end" of a vague "valley" to avoid a flood that is being caused by global warming. We get to step back from the grindingly uninspired mammoth love story and the other many subplots that go with the many characters. We get to watch a squirrel chase an acorn. And those sequences present some of the funniest bits in the film.

The rest of it is just kind of there. One problem is that there's really no reason for a sloth, a tiger, and a mammoth to be casting their lots together, except that they did in the first movie. That movie, I felt, had a storyline that involved actual characterization, growth, change, a real tension, etc. When the tiger almost fell off the cliff in Ice Age #1, I gasped. This time, I fidgeted. It just didn't seem real. And that's what I want from an animated movie about talking prehistoric animals -- REALNESS. No, but seriously, without some degree of actual jeopardy, of actual question of what will happen from scene to scene, without someone to root for and embrace -- it's just pointless.

The only character I was getting that for was the saber tooth squirrel. They could have saved a lot of money in celebrity voices.

Everyone had a subplot because they had to have something to do, so that was tidily arranged for them. But nobody's subplot had anything to do with the others'. And the global storyline about the flood was just a reason to walk... slowly. Slowly walk. And pester each other half-heartedly about how they were all going to die. Or not.

Like I said, the children didn't complain. I did laugh, many times, at the places I was supposed to. But it wasn't great.

Ice is melting fast as our heroes (Manny, Sid and Diego) look to relocate and survive. Fun sequel to the highly successful original from 2002 that found a huge following with the masses (both young and old) and found little warmth from hard-nosed critics. This sequel adds a few more characters and keeps everything interesting and fast-moving with quirky situations, high-paced action and unforgettable one-liners. Scrat (that lovable little guy who continues to go after that unobtainable acorn) dominates the action in an extended role as his adventures and misadventures coincide perfectly with the primary players. Still fewer things are cooler than this series. 5 stars out of 5.

Highly enjoyable film. Nary a dull moment as Diego, Sid and Manny find their way through the meltdown. The peril found in the first Ice Age movie was not duplicated here. The danger wasn't as imminent due to the fact that the meltdown is partly a blessing, while the ice age itself was all bad. A subtle flaw but not something the creators could avoid unless they wanted to make a "Mid-Ice Age" movie. How the tribe survived multiple thousands of years is not addressed, but who cares? Maybe they were actually living on the ecuator in the first movie and the ice caps just reached them in the final years of the ice age. A decade later, the climate warms up and causes the mixed emotions found in Ice Age II. The central theme of friendship in spite of differences and the humor found in trying situations plays well. Overcominging fears in the face of danger is a prominent theme. Jokes fly fast and furious for all ages. And the proto-squirrel steals our hearts with his absolute devotion to caching acorns. A strong production for Twentieth Century Fox.