ICE AGE still far from extinction.

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2009)

My Take: It's not the best animated movies have to offer, but with all the charms and laughs of a likable one.
Third time's the charm, occasionally. As I loved the first two ICE AGE movies, I admired ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS solely on its own terms; as pure family fun. Unlike TRANSFORMERS 2, which guises itself as a "family movie" while gearing itself for an older audience, ICE AGE 3 is a more harmless (not to mention trimmer) family affair, and in my opinion a better diversion if you plan to bring a lot of younger kids along for the ride. That saying a lot for a movie about an inter-species herd of Pleistocene mammals in a ridiculous adventure that has them crossing paths with dinosaurs in a lost underground jungle!
If I was 8 years-old right now, I would have absolutely loved ICE AGE 3! The title couldn't be more straight-forward: Our sub-zero heroes get tangled up with an adventure that breaks all plausibility when they find an underground forest inhabited by dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. As the "DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS" of its title kicks in, I felt the the 8 year-old in my head bouncing with joy. I don't know, maybe it's been a while when I saw a dinosaur movie (I don't know if the new LAND OF THE LOST, which I haven't seen yet, would be able to give me that same feeling). The animation doesn't break new ground, but for what it wanted to offer, it's colorful and lively, even better perhaps than in the first two movies. If good looks are not good enough ,the movie also offers some exciting action scenes filled with nearly endless visual inventiveness. I should have seen this on 3-D as it was intended to be. This is probably the most visually elaborate of the three.
Still, outside the visual astonishment to be had, it does suffer in comparison with its superior predecessors, as any sequel (or more specifically trequel) might. First, which probably deserves a lot of discussion, is the return of the character Scrat. I thought Scrat is one of the most brilliant creations ever in an animated movie since his debut in the first ICE AGE movie (the opening scene was classic!), but during his return in this sequel, he is not given much more to do. I guess the folks at Blue Sky Animation is contended with giving Scrat a love interest, which is none other than Scratte, a female flying squirrel. Perhaps when the DVD comes, Blue Sky will redeem themselves with their priced creation with yet another lovable short feature. The laughs also come in short. While it's s usual complaint that too much cultural references are gratuitous in a kid-friendly animated feature, this film gears itself more on making the kids laugh that adults will probably be left smiling, giggling at best. Still, there are a few gags to be had with Simon Pegg lending his voice to the tenacious Ahab-like weasel named Buck, as well as the familiar voice cast of Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Sean William Scott and Josh Peck providing the voices to their respective characters.
ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS is not the best of the three films, and it's not the best animated film either. Superb entries like WALL-E and the recent UP changed the way we look at animated movies, but that doesn't mean the ol' Looney Tunes way is out of fashion. While I did leave a bit underwhelmed, I still say this is what family movies are all about: Tongue-in-cheek fun. If family entertainment is what you're looking for, I recommend that this is the one to see.
Rating: ***1/2 out of 5.