Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

by Emily Price | More from this Blogger

13 May 2006 06:43 AM

Ice Age has been out in theaters for a while now. Released March 31st, it finally made its way to my local discount theater this weekend so I decided to check it out.

The first Ice Age movie is ranked up there as one of my favorite animated movies of all time. Ice Age: The Meltdown came no where near the greatness of its predecessor. The same big names are back to play the main characters John Leguizamo (Sid), Ray Romano (Manny), and Dennis Leary (Diego). This film also brings in the voice of Queen Latifah for the character Ellie and Seann William Scott and Josh Peck as Crash and Eddie.

In the film the characters are once again in the "Ice Age". In this movie however, rather than the Ice Age just beginning it is about to end, and the animals have to work together to get out of the valley before it is flooded by a melting glacier.

My favorite parts of this second film involve Scrat the squirrel who is still trying to hold on to his acorn, and failing miserably.

There is a little bit of language in this movie ranging from d$$$ to a$$, so this isn't the movie to go see with younger ears. The movie was also pretty confusing to watch from an adult's point of view, so I can only imagine how confused a younger child would be trying to watch the film.

Bad language and scattered plotline aside I still enjoyed this film. It may not be one to rush out and buy the day it comes out on DVD, but it's definitely a renter at some point or another. If you have a $2 theater in your area you may want to see if it's playing near you. It could be a great movie to take your 8-10 year old to on a Saturday afternoon.

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Emily is a freelance writer and video editor in Raleigh NC.

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bluetree (2947) 21 May 2006 10:11 PM

Terribly boring movie.

workingdad (2084) 22 May 2006 07:12 PM

I enjoyed seeing it with my daughter, but we did know the story before going in. I have to say that the sequel is much more of a thrill ride, a spectacle. Of the characters, only Diego and to a degree Sid show us something new, and neither give us enough.

What made the first one as good as it was -- and it's not on my Greatest Hits List, but probably an Honorable Mention -- was seeing Manny's character grow. SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN THE ORIGINAL ICE AGE FILM. STOP READING. The key to the film as a story that might be of interest to adults is when Manny gives the baby boy back to his father. It's awesome. Here's a character who lost his wife and child to human hunters, yet he has made this journey to reuinite a father with his son. It only hit me when thinking about the story of IA2 in relation to the original. The growth of Manny and even Diego is what makes the first film special. "That's what you do in a herd" has become a favorite line in our house. The Manny-Ellie story is not as powerful or as interesting. It's predictable -- if at times funny -- and even her backstory as to how she was raised by a mother possum does not generate the sympathy that Manny's own flashback (in the first film) of his loss does. IA2 is fun, but comparatively one-dimensional.