Ice Age: Collision Course

OK, ice age 1 was hilarious and a new standard for animation humor; together with Shrek, that came a year earlier. But where Shrek kept pretty consistent through the sequels (the attack of the princesses in part 3 was a absolute high in animation comedy), Ice Age dropped away further each sequel. Shrek stopped in time, Ice age should have stopped after 3. Continental drift was already hardly worth watching.

This latest sequel is maybe one of the worst animation movies ever. The story-line is horrible and it is simply not funny. The writers are clearly struggling to make up a story the use all clichés they can find. Even Scrat is not funny most of the time, although he lifts the rest of the movie up.

Will kids like this movie? Probably, but it lacks the wonder and quality of the first Ice Age. An Ice Age fan better avoids this movie

Here we go again! Milking everything you got out of a franchise. They say this is the final chapter of Ice Age, but we'll see how much money it makes to be sure.

Nothing overly imaginative about the film as the tribe attempt to survive a big rock about to hit Earth.

It was filled with good jokes that made me laugh hard throughout. It better with comedians like Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Simon Pegg, voicing the main charters. Although, four sequels made for too many main characters for any of the all-star cast to fully shine .

The animation was good, but nothing new stood out (I hear it only takes eight mouths to do these movies)but I really like the character design. Plus it's worth seeing for some great 3D images.

But the film works best if you are a huge fan of the ones before it(especially if your a fan of Scat, the saber tooth squirrel who has particularly created the entire universe in an effort to get that nut) . Without having that connection, it's a bit bland.

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You gotta know when to stop. This franchise has run a couple of movies too long.

Now concentrating on this movie only, not the franchise, plainly put, it is a bad movie. If you are a die hard fan and want to pick positives and try desperately enough, you can do so. I am not that desperate and I take my movie watching pretty seriously and there is nothing good I can say about this movie. There is no point in going into the plot and dissecting it. Scrat used to be funny, but that seems to be a lifetime back. Sid used to be lovable, but I can't even remember the last time I felt so. There is no life in this cow, let alone milk.

Sequels, sequels, sequels! It seems that the only thing that Hollywood wants to make is a sequel these days, at least in the animation world. And what franchise is a better example of this than Ice Age. Years ago, the idiotic animal cast warmed our hearts with an adventure that was fun, funny, and cute. Over a decade later, the adventure still continues, but it has now crossed over into the ridiculous zone (especially with the last movie Continental Drift). Nevertheless, we have the fifth installment dropped onto our laps and yours truly is back into the theater to give you some insight. Let's get started.

The GOOD • Same cute feeling to it • Voice Acting is just as good as always • Science behind the magic • Return of Buck

No surprise, Ice Age remains cute to appeal to the target audience of families. Manny (Ray Romano) and his crew continue to stumble, bash, and insult each other in a manner that is kid friendly and semi-entertaining. Your little ones will be laughing in high-pitched delight as Sid is smacked, Scrat is consistently punished, and insults fly through the air in some ridiculous screaming manner. Yep despite the new gags, it certainly feels like an Ice Age Movie. And when the comedy dries down to a trickle, there are those touching moments, well there are those heart warming, morale filled sequences that will make you say Awwwww.

While the dialogue and storyboard have certainly set the groundwork for the silliness, it is the voice acting that brings it to life. For this reviewer, John Leguizamo (Sid) was my leading voice as he delivers consistently stupidity and forlorn through the movie. Ray Romano's sarcasm and timing help support this, but Manny's role has been reduced ever since the birth of his daughter. As for the rest of the cast, well they do their parts justice, despite the limited characters they play, but not enough to call props on (more on that later). The exception to this is Neil deGrasse Tyson (Buck). Once more Tyson brings energy, whit and well-timed delivery that we loved in the third installment. Buck is just as chaotic as you remember, which often leads to action and genius wrapping into a product that continues to be impressive. And in this installment, Buck brings a lot of scientific principal, some realistic and others purely a stretch of imagination, that can at least stimulate some thoughts. It's an engaging character one I hope to see in the inevitable sequel to come.

The BAD: • The characters are not balanced • Crossed into kiddie zone way too much • Rushed story with pointless bad guys

The biggest thing I had an issue with, was how disproportionate the characters were in this movie. It's no surprise that as the cast continues to expand, there is less time for each character to make a worthy contribution. Ice Age has officially hit that road focusing again on the Mammoths and Scrat and forgoing most of the other characters. Sure Sid and Buck get their fair share, but the other characters are reduced to only a few lines of dialogue and nothing more (I'm talking about your character Jennifer Lopez). Such unbalanced character emphasis is a flaw for me and like many of the characters we need to move on from them rather than pointlessly include them. As mentioned earlier, the movie is family fun, but each installment continues to go deeper into the kiddie pool. Crash and Eddy have been reduced to very stupid humor that involves mindless banter and getting into fights. Manny's filter has been set to full power as his adult jokes have been reduced to just straight up bitterness. Even Sid has managed to dumb down his comedy so that is kid friendly. Wanda Sykes' edge that we got in the fourth film had flare and sassiness, but they limited that role so much in this installment. Therefore, the adult spectacle of the first Ice Age continues to be lost with each continued sequel. Finally, we address the villains of the movie. The new cast members in the film have great voice work, when they are actually on the screen. However, the raptor birds of this movie have little danger, edge, or even threat compared to the natural disaster careening towards Earth. In the first few movies, the villains that were hunting our crew had bite, edge, and terror. These villains were just sad, and another medium for comedic ploys. Throw in a rather rushed and blunt tale with a hastily concluded ending and you only get further lack of suspense.

The VERDICT

Ice Age: Collision Course is certainly continuing the trend we've seen in the series. While it is certainly kiddie, it is still somewhat entertaining and funny, and not the worst of the five movies. However, it still is not anything like the first Ice Age and the studio should think about dropping it to Netflix for the future instead of polling it in theaters. Therefore you can guess it probably isn't worth a trip to the theater, and certainly not in 3-D.

As a result, my scores are:

Animation/Adventure/Comedy: 6.5-7.0 Movie Overall: 5.5-6.0

Ice Age: Collision Course is a good film with excellent animation, laugh-out-loud comedy and includes all your fun and favorite characters from the past movies. The film follows Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Diego (Denis Leary) and the rest of the Ice Age gang as they must divert an asteroid from flinging them into a new age called extinction.

My favorite character in Ice Age: Collision Course is Scrat (Chris Wedge) who started out as a small character in the first Ice Age film and slowly became a fan favorite and the mascot of the franchise. Scrat lights up the screen every scene he is in. His brand of slapstick humor is more present here than in any other Ice Age film. I even kind of sympathize with this character because he goes through all this trouble just for an acorn.

Another character I like is Buck. Simon Pegg's talent really shines in his voice over work here. Buck has a big personality and, just like Scrat, has some of the movie's most memorable laughs. He is in a lot of my favorite sequences. My favorite part of this film is when Buck tries to find a strategy to save the mammals from disaster. He seeks help from personalities in his mind including Neil deBuck Weasel. I'm a big fan of a television show Neil deGrasse Tyson did called Cosmos, so it was funny to see his foray into voice acting.

This movie is a pleasant surprise considering this is the fifth film in the franchise. I thought by now the series had run dry, but this one excels on several fronts in terms of how it looks and how much it will make you laugh. I recommend you see this in 3D. It was cool seeing asteroids barreling towards me. The effects are very polished. The computer animation in this film excels and mixes lush backgrounds with great character design. The film has good comedy, most of the time. There are one or two scenes in this film that take the joke one step too far or where it is just plain gross.

I give Ice Age: Collision Course an age rating of 5 to 18 because of some crude humor and sequences that could be scary to younger viewers. I give Ice Age: Collision Course 3 out of 5 stars.