As the Summer holidays roll in, so does another big animated feature for the kiddies. Ice Age has been quite a successful franchise since its inception in 2002. And while it lost its way somewhat along the journey, it’s back for another outing.
This time round, Manny, Diego and Sid end up on an ice berg as the continent is set adrift (blame Scrat..who else?) and deal with a bunch of pirates lead by a baboon as well as trying to find their way back home. And to their credit, the pirates themselves deliver most of the laughs, even though the Captain himself might be a little bit too freaky for the very young kids. But as usual it’s the acorn loving Scrat who steals the show, time and time again.
From Dennis Leary to Aziz Ansari, not to mention Queen Latifah and John Leguizamo they all hit their marks and do a decent enough job of adding life to our incredibly likeable bunch of animals. Visually Ice Age 4 glistens brilliantly. While not going down the line of the photo real style of say Rango, it’s a hyper stylised cartoon which keeps in tone with the previous 3 movies. There’s lots of neat little touches which highlights the care and attention that has gone into the franchise.
Movies like this are all about fun and having a good time, and for the first 45 minutes or so Ice Age 4 Continental Drift is lots of fun. The set pieces are great, there’s some great one liners and a number of laugh out loud moments coupled with a number of clever touches. Unfortunately the latter half of the movie gets quite clunky and boredom does set in, for kids and adults alike. And while the finale itself is enjoyable, you’re almost wishing for the credits to roll.
No doubt this will make a decent return at the box office. Established characters, bright and cheery not to mention being released right on the Summer holidays for the kids. But A clunky and slow second half (how much dialogue do you really need for a movie like this) causes this one to melt.
