Ice Age

Rating: 5/10 (9 September 2005)

This was the first computer-animated film to be released by 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios, and led to films like Robots, Rio, and Ferdinand. I watched it several times when I was younger, it was a box office success, so it was inevitable that a franchise of sequels would follow, directed by Chris Wedge (Robots, Monster Trucks). Basically, it opens with a sabre-toothed squirrel known as Scrat (Chris Wedge) trying to find a place to store his acorn for the winter. In doing so, he inadvertently causes a crack in the ice, setting off a large avalanche, which he barely escapes. At the same time, a herd of prehistoric animals are migrating south to escape the forthcoming ice age. While a gruff woolly mammoth named Manfred aka "Manny" (Ray Romano) is heading north. Sid (John Leguizamo), a clumsy ground sloth, has been left behind by his family and decides to move on by himself. He inadvertently angers two Brontotheres, Carl (voice) and Frank (Stephen Root), after ruining their meal. Manny fights the rhinos after thy try to attack and continues on his path. Sid follows him, not wanting to be alone and unprotected. Manny is annoyed by Sid's outgoing demeanour and wishes to migrate alone, nevertheless Sid continues to follow him. Meanwhile, Soto (Goran Visnjic), the leader of a Smilodon pack aka sabretooth tigers, wants revenge on a neanderthal tribe for killing half of his pack by killing the chief's infant son. Soto leads a raid on the neanderthal camp, during which the baby's mother is cornered by Soto's lieutenant, Diego (Denis Leary), until she jumps down a waterfall. Soto orders Diego to find and retrieve the baby while the rest of the pack will wait for him at the mountain known as Half-Peak. Later, Sid and Manny encounter the mother in the river. In her dying moments she rests the baby on a rock for Manny to take, before disappearing into the water. After much persuasion by Sid, they decide to return the baby, but the camp has been deserted. They meet Diego, who claims he wanted to help the child, he convinces the pair to let him help by tracking the tribe. The four travel on, with Diego secretly leading them to Half-Peak where his pack is waiting to ambush them. On the way, they must change the baby, get into a squabble for a melon for the baby with a flock of dodo birds, encounter the Brontotheres once again, and enter an ice cavern. Scrat also pops up along the way still trying to find a place to keep his beloved acorn. Following these misadventures, the group reaches a cave with several cave paintings. There, Sid and Diego learn about Manny's past and his previous interactions with neanderthal hunters; they slaughtered his family, consisting of his mate and child, leaving Manny a depressed loner. Before reaching Half-Peak, they encounter a forming river of lava. While Sid and the baby get safely across, Diego almost falls, but Manny saves him, narrowly missing death himself. The herd takes a break for the night, and the baby takes his first walking steps towards Diego, who is having a change of heart after his time with Manny and Sid. The next day, the herd approaches the mountain, but Diego changes his mind and confesses to Manny and Sid about the ambush. As the pair turn hostile towards him, Diego asks for their trust and wants to help them escape attack. The herd battles Soto's pack, and guard the baby from harm, but Soto and his associates Zeke (Jack Black) and Oscar (Diedrich Bader) manage to corner Manny. As Soto closes in for the kill on Manny, Diego sacrifices himself by jumping in the way and is injured as a result. Manny then knocks Soto into a rock wall, causing several sharp icicles to fall and impale Soto, killing him instantly. The rest of the pack retreat in fear. Manny and Sid mourn for Diego, believing his injury is fatal, and go on without him. The two manage to successfully return the baby to his tribe, the father Runar bestows a beaded necklace to Manny in thanks. As the tribe walk away, Diego reunites with Sid and Manny, and they head off to warmer climates. 20,000 years later, Scrat, frozen in a block of ice, washes up on the shores of a tropical island. The ice slowly melts, and the acorn falls out, but Scrat cannot get himself out in time to rescue it from being washed away. Scrat then finds a coconut and tries to stomp it into the ground, he ends up accidentally triggering a volcanic eruption. Also starring Alan Tudyk as Lenny / Oscar / Dab, Lorri Bagley as Jennifer, and Jane Krakowski as Rachel. The voices of Romano, Leguizamo and Leary are suited for their characters who banter well together, I agree it is not the most exciting film, but it has fun and amusing moments that will entertain kids and adults alike, it is an alright family animated comedy adventure. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Worth watching!