Ice Age 3 has it's moments, but it fails to bring back what the first two movies had

Rating: 5/10 (3 September 2010)

I have really enjoyed the Ice Age series so far (with The Meltdown being my favorite). I was hoping Ice Age 3 would continue it's charm with it's colorful setting and characters. Unfortunately, I got put off watching it in theaters due to the negative reviews so this was only a DVD rental for me. This second sequel left me disappointed thanks to the atrocious dinosaur setting and a lame story.
In this third entry, Manny and his new partner Ellie are expecting their first child and Diego gets tired of being treated like a house cat. Sid however, gets jealous with Manny and Ellie and adopts three unhatched eggs which turn out to be baby dinosaurs. When the angry mother comes to take her children (and Sid too), the pack go on an adventure to rescue him in a underground "dinosaur" world with the help of one-eyed weasel Buck. Scrat the saber tooth squirrel is still after his acorn but can't choose between it and his love interest Scratte.
What made this movie such a letdown to me was the addition of dinosaurs. Kids really like dinosaurs and I don't understand why, but why did they add them to an Ice Age movie? Even though the movie is called "Ice Age", most of the movie is spent in the dinosaur world and thats a pretty bad thing to do if the first movie was committed on the Ice Age period. It seemed like Fox wanted to get greedy and grab money from dino-loving kids. The movie is also filled with references and adult jokes (such as Sid milking a male ox) which is very inappropriate for a kids movie. It's a shame how Blue Sky could waste a sequel on such an abominating dinosaur world and a paper-thin plot.
Despite this dinosaur setting, the movie was still enjoyable to watch. In addition to the impressive animation, the dinosaurs looked pretty good (despite size inaccuracies) and they sound authentic too. Crash and Eddie, the twin possums provided me most of the laughs with their witty one-liners and Buck's back story was quite interesting. I thought Scratte was a nice addition too but I would prefer Scrat chasing the acorn on his own.
Finishing off, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs isn't a terrible movie. It just takes the franchise in the wrong direction. Being a movie that you can either love or hate, it has the characters you love and the thrilling action sequences, but it all goes down with an appalling dinosaur concept.
I am hoping they fix these problems for the fourth installment and make it the last. "C+"