hmmm . . . . . quite controversial for a children's flick.

Rating: 5/10 (14 July 2009)

well, i took my little brother, who is 9 to see this film. all was well as we bought our drinks and chips, sat down in the cinema ready to watch another 'highly anticipated' 3d animated film.
well, it was funny, certain parts of it, but it got cliché fairly quickly, with its overused elements that worked with the first film, the second one got away with it, but the 3rd just doesn't touch the bar that the other films set.
certainly the slapstick was amusing, what was actually in the film, but unfortunately Sid the Sloth no longer seems to be a 'major character' , but simply the animal in distress, no longer the slapstick genius that made him a hit in the first film, but more of a 'support' to give the story some sort of depth and objective.
simply put, this is not what I'd call a full 'kiddies' movie as most of its story revolves around adult themes. quite complicated for a child to understand.
certainly quite amusing, but with several scenes showing quite adult dialog that my little brother didn't understand, and rightly so.
half of the comedy that was in Ice Age 3 that was appropriate for the children had already been showcased in the advertisements and shorts that where on the television, so there was no real surprise about some of the comedy, most of the children in the cinema where even reciting it along with the characters in the film.
it seemed the only thing anyone put any effort into was the animation, the action, and some of the voice talent. All of these where quite well done, but a certain amount of dialog was horribly adult, making references to things that would make sense to adults, but children would find hard to grasp, such as a reference of performing crude transsexual surgery on a T-'Rex', making it a T-'Rachel', something that i do not believe anyone below the age of 9 understands or should understand.
now maybe i am old fashioned, but i believe that the parents of the children should be responsible for teaching their kids about these sorts of things, and not leaving it up to the twisted and influential view of the entertainment industry.
to put it in summery, it was not a film that i recommend taking your young child to see, as some of the dialog will be lost on them. in fact, i was asking myself whether the animation was purely for the kids, and the dialog was purely for the adults.
however, the character of Scrat, the little Muskrat, was explored and extended a lot more than previous films, in fact he was more entertaining than the character of Sid, and is featured a lot more.
but despite this, it is just another sequel in my opinion, something that makes money simply because it has the title ICE AGE. it doesn't seem that the film wants to entertain, but instead make money, which is unfortunately disappointing.
so go see this film if you value slightly misdirected dialog, action packed scenes, very cliché slapstick comedy and very cute mammoth babies.
i would have given it a 7 for it's superb, beautiful and crisp animation and it's action-packed scenes, but the dialog and the cliché of some elements brought it down to a 4-5. still amusing though.