Not nearly as much fun as the first one

Rating: 6/10 (18 April 2006)

As much as I was surprised by how little most people like the original "Ice Age" I must say I am even more impressed with how much praise this second instalment is getting. While it is not a bad film in any sense, and the rendering quality has clearly improved, the whole thing just seems too uninspired, painting-by-numbers stuff: A lot of the time I feel I was just going through the motions, while the three main characters went from A to B with nothing much going on. On the original Ice Age there was a fair bit of tension between them: Diego seemed not to be trustworthy as he had a hidden and dangerous agenda, Sid was reluctantly tolerated by the other two while Manny's sorrow could only be understood towards the end. Now in The Meltdown, they seem to all be happy with each other and therefore there's no spark there. Help to liven up the proceedings could come from outside characters, but sadly, the baby from the first film is immensely more charismatic and endearing than Ellie and her two "brothers" put together. Also our heroes' nemesis' are, due their own nature and without giving anything away, very limited in character so you never feel threatened by them. Scrat again provides a few good laughs but since it is a one trick pony, seems to have run its course now. And sadly, there is no Dodo-like scene on this one to make me laugh so hard as to cry like the last one. OK film, but don't expect too much