So next year we're gonna be getting a new Ice Age movie with Ice Age: Boiling Point. And you know me, if there's a chance to make a Road to I'm gonna take it.
Ice Age is an animated adventure comedy movie that was produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios (in what was their film debut) with 20th Century Fox distributing. Chris Wedge directed while Michael J. Wilson, Michael Berg, and Peter Ackerman wrote the screenplay.
The story is, three unlikely mammals named Manny (a woolly mammoth), Diego (a sabertooth tiger), and Sid (a ground sloth) find a human baby after his tribe was attacked. The three set out to return the child to the remaining tribe survivors, but along the way the trio will encounter many dangerous challenges on their journey.
- Negatives
I've got nothing.
- Mix
It's the story. Now the great things about it is it touches on themes such as found family and loyalty across differences. Not to mention it dives into some great character work. I've forgotten just how well developed the characters are. Manny letting his guard down more, Sid finding a herd, and Diego struggling where his loyalties are. It great stuff you don't see in the later sequels. There's also the fact that there's quite a few darker edges I didn't notice as a kid that click with me now as an adult. Where the slight issue stems from is there are a lot of familiar beats that you've probably seen in other road trip/buddy comedy flicks. But I don't think those elements drag the story down too much.
- Positives
One praise to give is the voice acting from Ray Ramano, Denis Leary, and John Leguizamo. Ramano's dry delivery perfectly captures Manny's personality, Leary gives Diego an edge and captures the character's gradual warmth nicely, and Leguizamo combined with a lisp made Sid lovable and very funny. And when put together the three of them have some very entertaining chemistry whether it's comedic or something far more serious.
Speak of serious or comedic, I love the tone of this movie. It perfectly balances both comedy and more mature moments. Mature moments such as Manny looking at the cave paintings and going back to his past were done beautifully. And of course the comedy is a great mix of slapstick, gags, and dialogue.
Then we have the animation. This was as I stated before Blue Sky's film debut. So they had a lot riding on their animation, and it was a good start. The frozen landscapes look great, characters move in great fluidity, they also have great facial expressions whether they're showing happiness, sadness, or it's just a goofy expression. And they're action set pieces are amazing. Those pieces have an energy to them. My absolute favorite is the ice slide race. That scene was awesome and still gets laughs out of me.
Ice Age is a very enjoyable movie. While it's comedic it still has plenty of serious material that families can enjoy.
My final rating is, Good.
So I'm done here. Come back on Wednesday, yes Wednesday, Aug 26th for my review of the newest DC animated movie, Batman: Knightfall - Part 1: Knightfall. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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