Thinly disguised Bible story

Rating: 7/10 (9 February 2007)

I enjoyed this film. It is funny, and the CGI is so good you stop looking at it almost immediately and just see the characters and their world.
Several major plot devices are straight from the Bible. The "great flood". The exodus out of the valley. The "boat" - can anyone say "Noah's Ark"? All the animals in pairs. The Scrat character cleaving the ice in two to drain the valley. "Moses" anybody? Scrat is also seen floating in a basket much like the story of Baby Moses. The golden gates amongst the clouds in "Acorn Heaven". Even though the heavenly acorn in the clouds did look very Monty Pythonesque.
The music is also used to reinforce these biblical moments. The ones that stand out are when "Noah's Ark" is launched, when Scrat "parts the ice" and when Scrat is in "Acorn Heaven". All these scenes are accompanied by angelic choral singing no doubt designed to impart a sense of awe and reverence. You can almost see Charlton Heston (Moses) in the Ten Commandments, standing with outstretched arms parting the Red Sea during the ice-parting scene.
And what was that bizarre sideline story of Sid being sacrificed to the fire god about? Anti-pagan religious brainwashing perhaps? Thou shalt not worship false idols.
I was surprised that one of the minor characters actually died. But this fits well with Scrat's "near-death" experience later on. Being largely aimed at a younger audience, the not-so-subtle subtext is that when you die you go to heaven, and there will be acorns. Heaven is a lot better than being down here if we can judge by Scrat's reaction to being revived by Sid. Scrat spent his whole life in a quest for acorns, and in the end only found them in death. Scrat is really the main character since he underpins this central message.