REVIEW: Ice Age: Continental Drift

 There are no spoilers in this review.

PLOT: Manny, Diego, and Sid embark upon another adventure after their continent is set adrift. Using an iceberg as a ship, they encounter sea creatures and battle pirates as they explore a new world.


THE GOOD: Funny. I was surprised by how many times Ice Age: Continental Drift got me to crack up. It's not so much the physical comedy, especially when it comes to the endless journey of the poor acorn-loving squirrel, Scrat. It's the dialogue jokes that had me laughing pretty hard at times. Having not seen the second or third Ice Age films, I can honestly say that I was not lost at all. There are characters in the film who I assume were introduced in previous films that I was able to figure out right away.

Ice Age 4 is actually quite accurate with historical data of the time. For example, the continents did indeed get broken up from Pangaea due to a wolly mammoth fart.

THE BAD: Unoriginal. It might be weird to hear this at first, but Ice Age 4 is kind of a mix between this year's Brave and Madagascar 3. In Brave, there is a rebellious teen daughter. Guess what? In Ice Age 4, there's also a rebellious teen daughter. In Madagascar 3, the big message was all about sticking together as a team or family. Hey, and in Ice Age 4, one of the messages is about sticking together as a "herd." Alright, I know all of these movies were made at the same time, so I'm not implying that they all copied one another. My point is that Ice Age 4 doesn't bring anything new or fresh to the table. It's a safe film for 20th Century Fox as it doesn't take any risks or show anything that we haven't seen before.

Voice acting. What continues to baffle me is when studios bring in A-list actors or celebrities to voice major and minor characters in a film. Okay, maybe a couple recognizable names and voices are okay per movie, but do you really have to spend all the time and effort to bring in the bigger people for such minor characters? The cast list for Ice Age 4 is just ridiculous. Did anyone actually go see the movie just because Nicki Minaj is in it? Other than her, you have Wanda Sykes, Aziz Ansari, Drake, Jennifer Lopez, Alan Tudyk, Patrick Stewart, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and many others. What's even the freakin' point? Just get some actual voice actors who will be much more talented and cheaper. All of the original cast is back and they're still entertaining. Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage was added as the villain of the film and he does a decent job as well, despite his character having no purpose to be evil other than just because.

This scene accurately confirms the existence of Somali pirates during the Ice Age. Instead of taking boats hostages, they kidnapped cross-dressing squirrels.

THE END: Ice Age 4 is harmless fun for the entire family. The messages are simple, the animation is alright, and the humor is actually pretty funny. Out of the three major CGI animated feature films this summer, I would have to say that this was my second favorite. Brave, with all of its own shortcomings, is still a better movie, and Madagascar 3 is worse since it feels like it was not needed as much and wasn't as comical. If your kids are anything like mine, they will enjoy this movie a lot. Sid always seems to be a favorite with kids due to his stupidity and slapstick humor. Since the next animated film is not for another month, and it's ParaNorman which might be scary for most kids, I suggest taking your little ones to see this one when it comes out tomorrow. If they can wait, then rent it.


DISCUSS: What did you think of Ice Age: Continental Drift? Have you seen all of the Ice Age movies? What has been your favorite animated film so far this year? What family films are you looking forward to for the rest of this year?

 Did you know that the saber-toothed squirrel was able to shed its skeleton twice per season? David Attenborough and Planet Earth can eat their hearts out.