Typical of an irrrelevant sequel...

Rating: 1/10 (24 September 2009)

The concept of a "trilogy" is usually best suited only to the genres of action, fantasy and sci-fi. Though in the last few years it has been tried with animated films, once with 'Shrek' (2001-2007) and now with Ice Age, and both of them have followed a remarkably similar path. In both cases: the filmmakers' entire heart, soul and creativity were poured into the first film, which was wonderfully fun, with a very meaningful centre; the second film was also quite enjoyable and exciting, with a script that showed an admirable yet failed attempt to again attain some depth; and the third has been utterly disgraceful and unbearably shallow with a slapdash script full of countless desperate attempts at witty humour that are mostly in vain, with only very few being successful.
Amidst all the nigh intolerable madness, there is something of a plot, into which the writers have inelegantly implanted the theme of parenthood.
Manny (voiced by Ray Romano) becomes anxious after hearing that his wife Ellie (voiced by Queen Latifah) is about to give birth, and starts to hurriedly prepare himself for being a father. Sid (voiced by John Leguizamo) has stumbled upon a clutch of unguarded and seemingly abandoned eggs and decides to take them into his care. When they hatch, he proceeds to raise the hatchlings as if they were his own despite having no idea what species they are.
It is perfectly clear to the audience, however, that they are Tyrannosaurus Rex chicks, and after the angry mother takes both her chicks and Sid to her nest, the Manny, Ellie, and the others go after him into a very different world beneath the ice. They are lead by the new character, Buck (voiced by Simon Pegg).
It is rather refreshing and exciting to have a change in setting from cold and wintry to warm, colourful and tropical. Though as it is so obviously "inspired" by Journey to the Centre of the Earth we cannot give this film's creators any credit for that.
Though the invention of our tough, fearless and delightful guide is, however, noteworthy. At least one fresh face was clearly needed here as the old characters have lost much of their charm. The annoying, bumbling daggy sloth is no longer amusing. The rickety relationship we saw between the two mammoths in the previous installment was much more interesting and believable than the sappy romance we see here. The possum brothers Crash (voiced by Sean William Scott) and Eddie (voiced by Josh Peck) are no longer mischievous and delightful, they are instead tiresomely idiotic. The character of Diego (voiced by Denis Leary) is at its least dynamic and he has very little to do in this film. Even Scrat (voiced by Chris Wedge) the always reliable comic relief has every one of his scenes ruined by the presence of the less welcome newcomer Scratte (voiced by Karen Disher), though these writers are not the first to mistakenly try to assign a girlfriend to as many of the characters as possible.
Despite the fact that a handful of the new characters (the chicks, their mother, and Buck's rival Rudy included) do not talk, they still manage to let be a letdown. The Tyrannosaurus family may be entertaining, but Rudy was one we, for most of the film, only heard the deafening roar of, heard stories about and saw the shadow of. This built up incredible suspense, as well as our expectations for a truly terrifying and nigh invincible monster. Though in the end, the beast was disappointingly easily beaten in an extremely short "climax".
What had worked initially has obviously been forgone or overused now. If this is the last entry of the series and this is truly a sad end for Ice Age. Though better tragedy than bankruptcy, which is most likely what a fourth film would result in. Shrek Goes Fourth is now in the works, and this cannot end well for DreamWorks.