Better than I expected

Rating: 7/10 (2 April 2006)

Ice Age: The Meltdown/2006/***
Main Stars: Ray Romano John Leguizamo Denis Leary Queen Latifah Josh Peck Seann William Scott
Hmmmm I'm still trying to think if three stars would cut it. I mean, I liked it but yet there were also some scenes for tiny, tiny really young kids who were extremely annoying to listen to in the theaters. But overall the movie was impressive. The color, the music and a few scenes that fit with the music that reminded me a bit of "The Lord of the Rings", the characters especially Sid (John Leguizamo). He's amusing. Then there's Manny and Diego (Ray Romano and Denis Leary) who seem to amuse themselves making fun of Sid just like in the original. Then there are the three NEW main characters, Ellie, Eddie, and Crash (Queen Latifah, Josh Peck, and Seann William Scott). The two guys were REAL possums and Ellie thinking she's a possum but she's really a MAMMOTH. Manny gets furious when she can't get that through her. So what's the story this time? Well in the original the mission is to head south because of all the ice. Now it's heading in a different direction to get away from all the water. All caused by that idiot Scrat (squeaks by Chris Wedge) and his stupid acorn. Even though it's funny to watch him sniff around and twitch to find his acorn, it's also painful. He looks for it and then falls down and hits his head hard or anything else that causes pain. You feel sorry for him when he can't find or have it especially at the end. You'll see So everyone knows this so-called "meltdown" is going to happen not just from the wannabe news reporter named Fast Tony (Jay Leno) but because they believed it after hearing a few hawks say it. The hawks are excited for everyone to die in the meltdown so they can find some meat to eat ("Food Glorious Food"). So the movie continues with amusement here and there also with a little romance involving Manny mainly and Ellie who is not too fond of the way Manny speaks to her about them needing to reproduce but actually is flattered when he compliments her gigantic butt saying he is so sweet. And he saying, "Yeah, that's the biggest darn butt I've ever seen!" Please if I ever said that to a girl anywhere I probably would have been slapped or worse I would rather have kept it secret. Sure if girls were so crazy about it and got complimented about it more than they didn't I would have let it out if I saw an extremely large woman on the street. "Hey, your butt's looking enormous today! Eat some more, why dontcha! Have a great day now!" Cartoons and their weird embarrassing humor, what can I say? I would have to say the original Ice Age and this one are both the same in rating like some originals and sequels are. But in the original Ice Age at least I had the advantage of not hearing a bunch of kids going 'HAAAAAAAAA!!!!' while I just smiled. Movie directed by Carlos Saldanha.