Grade: A
There aren't too many films these days that push any kind of real values. The industry seems to be all about explosions and the number of people who have spilled blood.
"Ice Age" is a pleasant reprieve from Hollywood's usual banter of excessive emotional fluff and useless action scenes because it provides a positive message, and it's hilarious in most of the delivery.
Scrat (a rat and squirrel combination) starts the film by trying to bury a simple acorn for the winter. Inadvertently, he starts the ice age. Scrat also makes several small appearances throughout the film, making him one of two comic reliefs. The other is Sid (John Leguizamo), a sloth who is left behind by his family during the great winter migration of all mammals.
Denis Leary makes a slight departure from his usual roles by providing the voice of saber-toothed tiger, Diego. During the course of the movie he learns that just because people are different doesn't mean they can't be a "herd."
Manny (Ray Romano), is a woolly mammoth who lost his family because humans attacked his wife and child. Manny, however, still finds it in his heart to help return a lost human child to his father after a tiger attack.
Jack Black also lends his talents in the minor role of Zeke.
Audience members were made up mostly of children, but I think most of them missed the messages that were being cast by the film. One boy a few seats down simply said, "That sucked." I guess there wasn't enough blood or Pokemon.
Even when characters were hurt in the movie, the producers tastefully refrained from showing bloody content and there were no excessive fight scenes.
There were several good messages more people could benefit from seeing.
"Ice Age" is only the latest film in a series of computer-animated movies following in the steps of "Shrek," "Monsters, Inc." and the "Toy Story" films. The soundtrack was nothing notable and the animation itself wasn't as detailed as past films have been. The characters were the only exception, as they had lots of details and depth. The environments were slim, but there isn't much you can do when everything is ice and snow.
While in a cave on their pursuit of the human baby's family, the characters treat us to some frozen sight gags. A UFO is frozen in the ice as well as some smaller animals. Sid also gets a glimpse of his evolutionary chain frozen in time.
Overall, the film was worth the money, but one might have to prepay prime-time tickets for about a week or so until most kids have seen it. As a matter of fact, restless children were the most unenjoyable part of the movie.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
