Fun for the whole family.

Rating: 7/10 (1 July 2012)

Although not regarded in the same league as the Pixar and Disney output, the initial three Ice Age instalments collected over $2bn at the worldwide box office. (Rather surprisingly, that's $100m more than the Toy Story trilogy earned.) Posting figures as huge as that means we get treated to another adventure with mammoth Manny (Ray Romano), sabre-tooth tiger Diego (Denis Leary) and silly sloth Sid (John Leguizamo); this time with pirates. Like each episode before it, Ice Age 4 prides itself in offering up goofy laughs and goofier characters, with the ragtag bunch of pirates – led by Peter Dinklage's droll Captain Gutt and assisted by Nick Frost's uproarious elephant seal Flynn – the source of much joy. The old gang don't dissatisfy either: Sid is the standout as usual but Diego gets more laughs than normal and Scrat's little journey is ever-amusing. The serious Manny is still, well, the serious Manny, but you can't win them all. The bucket load of action remains too, however nothing here tops the dinosaur rumbling in part three. Continental Drift is gratifying escapism for the whole family that, despite being the fourth outing for these prehistoric creatures, shows few signs of letting up.