Ice Age: The Meltdown

Ice Age is one of the best animations ever made so I was excited about the return of Scrat & co. While the new adventure doesn't have the same emotional impact as the first (less tear-jerky, I mean), it makes up for it with comedy. Scrat's attempts to hang on to his acorn are longer & even more hilarious. The Possums & their big "sister" are excellent new characters, providing their own share of the laughs. The romance plot is less dramatic than the baby's tale, sometimes slowing the action. However it's sweet & provides some fun dialogue. Sid is brilliant, his mini adventure a definite highlight. Diego's role is reduced, but still vital. He's especially funny with Sid. If you enjoy the Ice Age films, I also recommend The Land Before Time adventures. They share the same formula & the same heart. 8/10

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.

At first, "Ice Age: The Meltdown" looks like the inevitable sequel to the famous 20th Century Fox animated blockbuster, trying to cash in the success of the previous movie. Well, despite being exactly that, this new adventure of the prehistoric mammals manages to stay on its own legs and delivers nothing but great fun becoming a worthy sequel. That alone is an achievement in its own right.

After some years living in peace in a new pack, our old friends Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), Manny the Mammoth (Ray Romano) and Diego the Sabertooth tiger (Dennis Leary) discover that the ice is melting and a flood will cover the valley they now call home. Soon they organize a migration, but the trip won't be easy, specially for Manny, who begins to believe that he is the last Mammoth on earth.

"The Meltdown" continues with the style of its predecessor both in humor and animation, so those who fell in love with the original will love the sequel too. The difference however, is in the fact that now Manny is our main character. We get to know more about this character apparently anti-social and cynic, but who in the inside feels very lonely after the loss of his family. Sid and Diego make good sidekicks in this adventure and while their roles in the film are somewhat diminished, they still are very well-developed characters. Scrat, the nut-obsessed squirrel is back too in his constant quest for his lost nut, giving slapstick humor of the finest type in every scene he is in.

It is always hard for sequels to live up to the expectations, specially in family-oriented animation films, but director Carlos Saldanha and his team manage to make a funny movie that never gets boring or tiresome (something vital as it is a movie mainly oriented for kids).

While probably the story is not exactly original or complicated, writers Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow make up for it with good character development and funny one-liners that fit the movie tone very good. Two new characters, the young possums Crash (Sean William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck) are a welcomed addition to the family, as well as Ellie (Queen Latifah), the lost mammoth.

Ellie, Manny and their relationship is a very important subplot in the movie, and one that was perfectly handled by the director and his crew. While Diego's subplot was also interesting and served as basis for very good jokes, it didn't had enough screen-time; a shame in my opinion, but overall the movie was very good.

To summarize, fans of the first "Ice Age" won't be disappointed by "The Meltdown", and sure the movie will give laughs to both kids and their parents. While still not as good as the first one, this sequel breaks the "sequel's curse" and is an entertaining film on its own right. 7/10

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.

Similar to the first Ice Age, the promotional material for the sequel was out in the theatres way in advance, and courtesy of the Scrat character too, up to its usual antics of getting to that elusive acorn. Here, Scrat opens the movie, and emulating the style of the first, he provides most of the laughs, also as an intermission from the actual scenes from the main cast.

Our gang of prehistoric animals are back - Manny the Mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the Sabre-tooth Tiger (Denis Leary). We learn that Sid has gone into the early childhood business, educating the young minds of pre-historic brats. However, I felt that this movie was somehow darker in tone than the original. While the original was one which dealt with hope, this one had its setting in extinction, disaster and death.

The valley which they live in is threatened by the melting ice, no thanks to global warming. So all the animals embark on a journey to salvation, to that rumored ark which will save them from the massive floods to come. Along the way, our trio meets up with another trio of characters, who were added to expand the cast, featuring 2 Possums Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), and another, but female, mammoth (Queen Latifah).

Needless to say, Manny's still anti-social, and Diego can't get along with those rascal possums who get on his nerves, and Sid's the "philosopher" ever providing the laughs. Various themes like romance (hey, we got 2 mammoths here), friendship, trust, and believing in oneself to overcome one's phobia get covered. Pretty wide scope, but they manage to fit in place nicely.

The villains in this sequel are pretty nasty, besides the looming natural disaster, we have two sea creatures with nasty teeth and attitude, as well as menacing vultures ever ready to pounce on the flesh of animals who have fallen.

But it's not all that bleak. Keep a lookout too for that mad sloth song-and-dance sequence, which has potential to become the next ear worm ala Madagascar's zany "you-got-to-move-it" song. The animation is as usual, top notch, and I just can't get enough of the photo-realistic ice and water landscape.

This is one piece of animation that doesn't rely too much on sight gags, of spoofing current affairs, but one filled with more witty dialogue and kept on an even keel with its interesting storyline. Though at times it might feel clichéd, somehow it excelled in its execution.

And that makes this sequel, as enjoyable as, if not better, than the original. Recommended stuff this week!