Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Rating: 5/10 (25 August 2007)

The first movie is one I saw many times when I was younger, it was almost inevitable that a sequel would follow, as it was a big box office success, this is the first sequel in what would become a franchise, directed by Carlos Saldanha (Robots, Rio, Ferdinand). Basically, Manfred aka "Manny" (Ray Romano) the woolly mammoth, Sid (John Leguizamo) the sloth, and Diego (Denis Leary) the sabre-toothed tiger are living alongside many other creatures in a large valley surrounded by an enormously high ice wall on all sides. However, the trio discovers that the ice wall is actually a dam holding a massive body of water that could flood the valley. The intimidating Lone Gunslinger Vulture (Will Arnett) warns them that they have up to three days until the dam breaks and they are drowned. But they have a chance to survive boarding a boat at the other end of the valley. Manny already fears that he may be the last mammoth left, after his family were killed by Neanderthals. During the evacuation, a glacier containing two sea reptiles breaks off, releasing the creatures into the water. When Manny is briefly separated from them, Diego and Sid encounter two mischievous opossums named Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck). Manny meanwhile is surprised when he encounters Ellie (Queen Latifah), a female woolly mammoth, but she believes she is an opossum, the adoptive sister of Crash and Eddie. Sid invites her to tag along with the group to escape the flood, and she brings Crash and Eddie. Meanwhile, back at the valley, Scrat (Chris Wedge) the sabre-toothed squirrel is trying to reclaim his treasured acorn, which he keeps losing when it slips to the top of an iceberg and into a vulture's nest. After a dangerous encounter with the sea creatures while crossing a pond, Diego shows a fear of water. They discover an area which Ellie recalls as the place where she was adopted. She finally realises she is a mammoth from a memory flash, and how she was separated from her family, and found by a family of opossums. Despite this bonding moment with Manny, she distances herself from him when he suggests they should be together to "save their species". Ellie and Manny reconcile when they must co-operate to save the group when the ground cracks under their feet. Sid is kidnapped by a tribe of mini sloths who believe Sid to be a god. Sid lights a fire for them and believes that he has finally found respect. But they plan to sacrifice him by throwing him into a volcano; Sid narrowly escapes. The next morning, Sid tells the others his experience, but they are unconvinced. After being harassed by vultures, who sing about wanting to eat them, the group finds the boat behind a field of hot geysers. Manny insists on going forward, Sid and Diego follow, but they are separated from Ellie and her brothers when they argue about which way is safest. When the flood comes, Ellie is trapped in a cave due to falling rocks, but Manny saves her from drowning. While Diego overcomes his fear of water to save Sid, Crash and Eddie from drowning. The sea creatures arrive, but Manny defeats them using his quick thinking, they are defeated and killed by a rock falling on them. The other animals are at the mercy of the water currents. Meanwhile, Scrat climbs up the glacier and sticks the acorn at the top of the ice. This forms a crack in the glacier, which widens into a fissure, diverting the flood and saving the animals in the valley. From the other side of this glacier, a herd of mammoths show up, proving mammoths aren't extinct. But Manny and Ellie decide to remain together, taking Sid, Diego and the opossum brothers along. Sid encounters the mini sloths again, they invite him to be their leader, but Diego convinces him to stay with their "herd". Scrat has a near-death experience, after drowning, falling from the glacier, and enters a heaven full of acorns. But before he can touch the biggest acorn, he is thrust back, and wakes up, having been resuscitated by Sid, who he proceeds to viciously attack. Also starring Jay Leno as Fast Tony. The voices of Romano, Leguizamo and Leary remain suited for their characters who banter well together, like before it is not the most exciting film, it has fun and amusing moments that will entertain kids and adults, it is just another alright family animated comedy adventure. Worth watching!