"I liked you guys better when you were extinct!"

Rating: 7/10 (11 October 2009)

The mammoths have a baby on the way. Diego feels like a fifth wheel. Scrat finds his perfect match (too perfect--she wants the beloved acorn too), and Sid adopts eggs. Oops, they belong to a dinosaur. And she's not extinct. Mommy wants her young back, seizes their kidnapper Sid, and drags him off back to a subterranean Lost World.
So it's Ice Agers to the rescue of their friend in Jurassic Park. Rumors of them bringing in the big reptiles as a desperate attempt to revitalize the Ice Age series have been greatly exaggerated. Ice Age is still cool, and all the stuff that's made it fun up to now is still fresh. New characters establish themselves as valuable parts of the crazy silliness almost immediately. There's a great soldier of fortune guy who comes across as a Capt. Jack Sparrow/Paul Hogan mix. The mommy T-Rex is genuine and likable. All of the baby animals are cute. Pterodactyls, horn-backed creatures, stegosauruses, and more all drop by. Then there's a great villain, the king of them all, a rampaging Gigantisaurus who makes Lady T-Rex look petite. It's a sure bet some of these guys will be back for future Ice Age episodes.
While all this goes on, the ongoing Scrat saga continues, but now he has competition for his prized acorn. A pretty female Scrat. You can guess where this is heading, and the film utilizes the conflict/romantic tension routine for hilarious results. There are also some key lines extracted from Jurassic Park that are dealt out for great one liner/sight gags, as well as a few cultural reference jokes.
It helps to enjoy this if you've seen the first two Ice Age movies. It's a nice addition to the ongoing character story lines, although its high octane zany approach contrasts with the low key atmosphere of the first one. A fun watch for both kids and adults.