Enjoyable, near-identical sequel to Ice Age.

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2006)

The first Ice Age movie was pretty good - excellent animation, funny moments, slightly bland story - and it's virtually the same with this sequel. Many of the same actors return to provide the vocal work for their characters, with a few new voices this time around (like Queen Latifah as a VERY weird woolly mammoth). Just as in the first film, the voice acting is the thing that really makes the film entertaining, with John Leguizamo doing an especially good job as Sid the sloth. The animation is once again superb, but in all honesty the advances in technology over the past decade mean that ALL new animated movies look good (to praise the animators is almost as unnecessary as saying that cereals taste good with milk!) Once more, the storyline is the weak link in the overall scheme of things - it's just a very plain, straightforward tale of friendship and adventure, which passes the time servicably enough without ever reaching a level one might call outstanding.
Sid the sloth (voice of John Leguizamo), Manny the woolly mammoth (voice of Ray Romano) and Diego the sabre-tooth tiger (voice of Dennis Leary) are, at the start of the story, living in a walled valley. The weather has warmed up considerably since their first series of adventures, and the ice covering the world seems to be melting. The creatures living in the valley learn that the huge wall of ice next to their home will shortly melt and give way to a great sea of water that could quite possibly wash away them and their homeland. The only hope is for all the creatures to embark on a long trek to the other end of the valley, where a massive tree trunk shaped like an ark can be used to help them survive the imminent flood. During the journey, the creatures have numerous adventures including being pursued by shark-like predators. Manny also has to face up to the possibility that he may be the last of his species, for it has indeed been a long time since anyone saw another woolly mammoth.
Leguizamo makes all the best one-liners his own, in particular a brilliant moment where his character Sid utters: "Gee tomorrow the flood's gonna come and we're all gonna die".... then, having made this terrifying prophecy, falls to sleep a fraction of a second later! Sid also has a rib-tickingly funny scene where he is mistaken as a God, and gets his tribe of "followers" copying his every movement. The character Scrat is also back - you may remember him as the rodent perpetually trying to get hold of that elusive nut - and once more there are amusing slapstick gags involving his attempts to eat. The film, at 91 minutes, is of a very appropriate duration and doesn't outstay its welcome.
To summarise, if you liked Ice Age you'll like its sequel; if you didn't, you won't. They really are almost identical films in many aspects.