Everything a sequel needed

Rating: 8/10 (14 July 2013)

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
*** (out of 4)
91 mins/ U
Cast: (voice) Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah, Will Arnett, Jay Leno, Chris Wedge
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Plot: Manny, Sid and Diego discover the world is melting and travel to find safety.
JJ's Verdict: Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is everything the sequel to Ice Age should be. It improved its weaknesses (better animation, characters looking more alive and emotional), kept its best parts (scrat running after all his acorns, great jokes between 3 mains) and added its own 'extras' (new characters, threatening situations, interesting sub-plots).
Ice Age 2 returns us to Manny the mammoth, Sid the sloth and Diego the sabre-tooth tiger who have now become firm friends. Their relationship's start to become strained when they discover that the ice is melting and begin a evacuation process, helping other animals get away. Although in the previous film Sid was portrayed as the weak character, the other two animals face their demons in a much more mature sequel. Diego is frightened of water and, more importantly, Manny believes he is the last of his species and is trying to come to terms with this. However, when Manny does discover a female mammoth (Queen Latifah) she thinks she is not a mammoth but a possum like her two younger 'brothers'. Although her ignorance can be incredibly annoying, it is used to good effect and becomes resolved fairly quickly.
Of course the brilliant Scrat the squirrel returns to find more acorns and once again fails to come out with any. He encounters piranhas and actually causes the original meltdown early on in the film.
Apart from the female mammal and her two possums, there are some fun new characters. We have Jay Leno's Fast Tony who tries to capitalise on the meltdown by selling survival equipment that obviously will never work and a 'lone ranger' vulture voiced by Arrested Development's Will Arnett who constantly reminds the group he will eat them if they don't escape the meltdown. There are also two ancient crocodile type characters that are constantly chasing the group and put them in fun and exciting action sequences and threatening situations.
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a near-complete sequel. It may be predictable throughout but not for its target audience. It ends on a heroic and bold note and what everyone wanted; Scrat having one more acorn adventure.