A sequel that begs the question, "Why?"

Rating: 3/10 (31 December 2006)

The original "Ice Age" was a very good show - funny and clever. I therefore had high hopes for the sequel which turned out to be neither funny nor clever.
In the original, all the characters were believable within the bounds of cartoon reality. In this, one of the main characters, Ellie, is a one note joke that no one can take seriously. The voice performances are OK, given the dialog they had to work with. Queen Latifah's voice performance as Ellie almost overcomes the essential silliness of the character, but not quite. The other voice performances lack the spark of the original, as if the actors realized they were only doing it for the paycheck. The one exception is John Leguizamo who tackles the Sid character with the same manic gusto as the original. But it's simply not enough.
The bottom line is that the original made me laugh and care about the characters. The sequel made me smile intermittently, but mostly made me look at the clock waiting for it to end. A major disappointment...