Predictable story

Rating: 5/10 (12 July 2003)

This is the second animated feature by Twentieth Century Fox and I thought the general idea was endearing enough but it just plods along in a very predictable manner. The story of course takes place in the ice age and we see a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo) being saved by a mammoth named Manfred (Ray Romano) and they start traveling together during the southern migration. Also, some sabertooth tigers want to get revenge on a tribe of humans and the leader of the pack decides to steal a human baby and he selects a tiger named Diego (Denis Leary) to carry out this mission. He chases the human mother until she and her baby jump into the river and disappear. She washes up down the river where Manfred and Sid find her. She dies but the baby is alive but then Diego shows up and wants the baby. Manfred and Sid say no but Diego says he can lead them to a pass in the mountains where the humans are going and they can hand the child over. But Diego is really leading them to an ambush where the other tigers will be waiting. So the journey begins and at this point in the film Diego discovers the importance of being in a herd and how you should look after one another. The story is very predictable and you can guess what is going to happen before it even happens! There really is nothing new here. A band of talking animals protecting a human baby, haven't we seen that before? Didn't that happen in "Monsters Inc"? The animation is not overly impressive although some of the shots have some good detail. As you watch this film the animation just doesn't grab your attention. I think part of the reason is the bleak landscape. How attention grabbing is the color white? It doesn't leave a lot of room for detail. I did enjoy Ray Romano's voice for his character. His deep and slow drawl seems perfectly suited for a slow moving mammoth. Its not a bad animated film and its hard not to root for these characters no matter how hokey the story is. But the story is really aimed at a very young audience and it should work best for that mentality. But if your a teenager or older than you will easily spot how familiar the story is.