Surprisingly almost as good as the original

Rating: 7/10 (16 July 2009)

After the bore fest that was Ice Age 2: The Meltdown I went to the cinema with very low expectations, a lot of popcorn and an intention to bad-mouth the movie throughout the screening. At the same time I was dreading the laughter of young kids and hoping that it would be at least mildly entertaining.
I must admit the movie came by surprise. Sure. It has it faults. Indiana Jones action scenes are overcooked and uninspiring. The new character addition of Buck is just irritating even though he helps move the plot along (the character concept is just poor). The premise of dinosaurs is idiotic (but then again this is a cartoon...). The love affair of our lovable little Scrat is just tiresome and a lot less of the munchkin actually means more.
But all in all the characters suddenly began to click again. To some extent this is thanks to exploring new areas of their relationship, instead of just rehashing the first part, as The Meltdown did. Manny is about to expand his family and is expecting a child with the mammoth/opus Ellie. This disrupts the status quo in the weird little family that has been created. Diego the sabre-tooth has been getting weary of the vegetarian settled down life and is ready to move to new hunting grounds. In the meantime it occurs to Sid that the changes about to come will make Manny more focused on his new baby, whilst with Diego about to leave he will be left to fend for his lone self.
This leads to Sid wanting to create a family of his own... An opportunity occurs when he finds three eggs buried deep in the snow.
Funny, smart, if at times repetitive. Overall the characters are once again lovable and energetic, something sorely missed in the second outing of the team. If this is where Ice Age is heading I can sure handle another serving.