Still not as good as the original "Ice Age" from 2002, but a decent second sequel

Rating: 7/10 (8 December 2009)

This third installment in the "Ice Age" trilogy from Blue Sky Studios made it to the silver screen this summer, but I haven't seen many films in the theatre this year, and this was no exception. I hadn't even seen its two predecessors by the time it was released. I saw both the original "Ice Age" and the first sequel, "Ice Age: The Meltdown", for the first time just last month. Since I was impressed with them both, especially the original (which is unsurprisingly the best of the three), I was bound to end up watching "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" soon afterwards. Yesterday evening, I rented a copy of it on DVD, just like I did with the first two last month. After seeing them all, I can say neither sequel is as good as the first one, but that doesn't mean they're boring.
Manny and Ellie are expecting a baby, and Manny wants everything to be perfect for the arrival of the newborn. Diego believes he is losing his predatory skill, and decides to leave the herd. Sid wants to raise a family of his own, and sees an opportunity to do so after he accidentally falls through ice and finds three dinosaur eggs, which he believes have been abandoned! He takes the eggs back up to the surface, and when Manny sees them, he tells Sid to take them back, but they soon hatch into baby Tyrannosaurus! The sloth thinks it's great to be a parent, but the three young dinosaurs cause a lot of trouble for the other children around. It isn't long before the Tyrannosaurus mother comes up, and when she finds Sid with her young, she takes the sloth and her three offspring back underground with her! Ellie, Manny, Crash, and Eddie go underground to find Sid, and discover an entire jungle down there, with creatures thought to be extinct! They find Diego, who has also come down to rescue Sid, and the five of them find themselves in a lot of danger as they are guided by a one-eyed weasel named Buck!
Just like the two previous "Ice Age" movies, this one is often very funny. The humour may sometimes be a little too kiddish for adults (I still don't find Crash and Eddie, who were introduced in the second film, that funny), but many gags in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" made me laugh, with the usual conflict and such. Also, I found what Sid says when his head is stuck up the mother Tyrannosaurus' nose to be a comic highlight, even though it's very juvenile! Of course, we once again have Scrat the "saber-toothed squirrel" constantly trying to protect his acorn, but this time, he has a female competitor named Scratte, which leads to more comical moments. There's also a good amount of action and excitement during the characters' underground adventure, with the man-eating plant, lava, and some ferocious beasts! This underground jungle can easily remind one of the jungles of Skull Island in "King Kong". Once again, the animation is great in this third "Ice Age" movie, even if it didn't impress me quite as much as the animation in its predecessors did for some reason.
The original "Ice Age" was rated PG for mild peril, and the first sequel was given the same rating for its smut. This second sequel has been given the PG rating for both of those reasons. "Ice Age: The Meltdown" has some sexual innuendos, and I will warn parents that there are even more of those in "Dawn of the Dinosaurs". These crude jokes, or at least some of them, could easily go over the heads of little kids, which is a good thing, but parents should still be careful. On the other hand, for adult viewers, the sexual innuendos can be really funny. No, "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" is not one of the cleanest CGI animated family movies from recent years, even though it came from the same studio that brought us "Horton Hears a Who!", the first G-rated full-length adaptation of a Dr. Seuss book, just last year. However, this third installment in the "Ice Age" trilogy is still decent family fare for kids who can get over the mild smut and for many adults as well.