Lacks The Freshness Of Ice Age But Is Still A Roller-Coaster Ride For the Most Part

Rating: Null/10 (15 April 2016)

The 2nd instalment in the Ice Age series does up the ante when it comes to Scrat's misadventures, introduces new characters into the lives of Manny, Sid & Diego without any friction, and adds more pre-historic animals into its list but it lacks the freshness of the original and is a slight deterioration in storytelling quality as well.
The story of Ice Age: The Meltdown continues the journey of Manny, Sid & Diego who embark on a new adventure after finding out that the ice age is nearing its end & with all the melting ice, a great flood is approaching. But on their way to a higher ground, they discover that Manny isn't really the only woolly mammoth left alive.
Directed by Carlos Saldanha, The Meltdown carries itself on the momentum provided by previous chapter and packs in enough moments of laughter to keep its audience amused for the most part. The arcs of recurring characters don't really evolve by a notable margin, the story itself follows a generic route & humour is a bit juvenile at times.
Scrat is still the best character in the movie and his endless pursuit of the prized acorn is a never- tiring concept that effortlessly provides the comic relief whenever needed. The voice cast of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo & Denis Leary is joined by Queen Latifah & Seann William Scott and all do a fine job at it & play their characters convincingly.
On an overall scale, Ice Age: The Meltdown applies the same formula that made its predecessor a refreshing delight yet ends up inferior in content and one reason for that is its inability to improve upon the shortcomings of the first film. However, despite not being as emotionally fulfilling as the original, it delivers on its promise of offering a fun-filled extravaganza.