Patchy series

Rating: 3/10 (29 December 2012)

"Ice Age" out of all the 3D animation franchises boasts the least intriguing characters. Where Madagascar is saved by the militant penguins and King Julien, or Shrek by a certain talking donkeys and a host of fairy tales freakoids, "Ice Age" has to fall back on Scrat, who unfortunately has grown stale and repetitive with every new outing. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" manages to recapture some spirit through Scrat's love affair and the introduction of the swash-buckling weasel Buck. Manny, Diego and co offer limited appeal, mostly functioning as dramatic outlets for plot development, leaving only Sid to be a somewhat colourful, if goofy character.
This time around Scrat is back to his quest for the ever-elusive and ultra-destructive acorn, while Buck makes a blink-of-an-eye appearance. As Manny (Ray Romano) tries to control her hormonally challenged daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer), the earth starts another epic change when continents split. As a consequence Peaches and Ellie (Queen Latifah) are split from Manny, who finds himself adrift in full ocean with the sabretooth Diego (Denis Leary), Sid (John Leguizamo) and the latter's granny (Wanda Sykes). Manny will do anything to return to his family, but in order to do so he must first confront the first sea pirate on Earth: prehistoric ape Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage) and his crew of sea-worn misfits.
Despite some new quacky characters like Granny and the inclusion of extremely talented Dinklage, unfortunately the story didn't work for me and the excess of characters meant none were really focused on, as each of them compete for stage time. Overly contrived and lacking pace or charm this lazy instalment of "Ice Age" drifts along waiting for end credits, cold in delivery, despite best attempts to warm up the audience (mostly through pretty standard Laurel and Hardy type jokes). Ultimately a sequel too much for what was already a strained idea. By far the least successful of the series, showing that this franchise should be heading for meltdown. Hopefully no more global events await the "Ice Age", thus no further stories to be painfully churned out.