Distracting and sporadically amusing but far too patchy and obvious to do the job

Rating: Null/10 (19 April 2006)

Having survived the advancing ice in the first film, Manny, Sid and Diego face a new problem when a conman's warnings about an apocalyptic flood turn out to be true, as the ice walls around their valley are barely holding back a mass of water. Leading the animals to the other end of the valley in search of safety, Manny frets about being the last of his species, Sid worries about not being respected while Diego worries about his secret fear of water. On their way they meet Ellie  a large mammoth that offers Manny hope for the future  if only she didn't think that she was a possum like her "brothers" Crash and Eddie.
Although I thought Ice Age was an OK film I must admit that I assumed any sequel would be one of those "no star voices" affairs that go straight to video sale and wondered why they bothered to follow up such an unremarkable film. I still went to see it though but sadly I only found my fears confirmed by a film that is sporadically funny and lacks a good story to really engage. Like the first film, there aren't loads of film etc reference gags or really adult material so the pressure was really on the story to engage. Sadly it didn't and the main thread that involves the two mammoths was all a bit obvious and annoyingly sentimental. It doesn't help that the whole idea of Ellie being a possum and indeed her character, being irritating but even ignoring this the story is pretty obvious and slightly dull. The subplots are hardly there at all and, although Sid and Diego's parts are amusing, they contribute to the film feeling episodic and patchy. Scrat was the only reliable part of the film, producing the biggest laughs away from the plot, but he was relied on too much towards the end. It is a shame because the threat of the two fish monsters early on suggested that this would be a darker film with a real sense of urgency and peril  sadly this early promise was never delivered.
The voice cast are mostly solid enough but nobody has enough of a memorable or fun character to really lift the material. Romano is solid but he hasn't the depth to bring the script to life. Latifah has continued her quest to become the actress I would cross a busy road to avoid by turning in yet another obvious performance that grated on me from start to finish. OK so her material is weak but her delivery is poor and she had nothing of interest going on at all. Leguizamo is cut away from the main film but is still fun and gave a few laughs. Leary is so-so again, trading solely off his tough, dark voice but not having anything other than that to work with. Peck and Scott are both pretty weak and don't add much but smaller turns are generally amusing from Leno, Arnett and a few others. Director Saldanha seems unsure what he is trying to do and is a bit all over the place in terms of mood  being dark one moment and then far too light the next, producing long flat moments before suddenly producing an inspired musical moment with the vultures! Overall then a pretty disappointing film. It has just about enough in the asides to be amusing but the sum of its parts is sadly not much. Scrat is funny but the rest is far too hit and miss and the obvious main plot will find many bored - adults and kids alike. A so-so film that does enough to distract then, but in a genre where the standards have been consistently set high, Ice Age 2 just wasn't good enough to cut it for me.