Ice Age: The Meltdown

Plot synopsis:
In the opening scene, Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel climbs a glacier to bury his acorn, but accidentally opens a hole in it, causing water to spurt out. The world of ice is slowly melting. The creatures of the Ice Age are all shown enjoying themselves on slides and pools made by the melting ice; among them the three protagonists of the first film: Manny, Sid, and Diego. Sid opens a small day camp, where none of the younger creatures take him seriously, nor do Manny and Diego, which leaves Sid seeking a daring deed. Fast Tony, a local con artist is claiming that the earth will flood and that the bark and reeds which he sells are needed to stay alive. Manny dismisses the idea, but is distracted when he sees that Sid will try to high dive from a giant waterfall; as Manny goes with Diego to the top of the waterfall to save Sid from his act of daredevilry, suddenly the ice under Diego's feet begins breaking, causing him to bolt in fear, this also made Sid figure out that Diego is afraid of the water. The herd figure that the pleasant weather has caused the ice shelves to melt, and it is kept from destroying the valley only by the glaciers, which have formed a dam.
A lone vulture warns the animals that a giant tree can act as a boat and save them if they make it to the end of the valley within three days time, and all soon set out to find it. As the animals begin their journey, Sid sings three songs to tease Manny about Mammoths being "extinct". During the evacuation, a glacier which contains two sea reptiles from the Mesozoic era, Cretaceous and Maelstrom, breaks off.
When Manny briefly is separated from them, Diego and Sid encounter two cheeky opossums named Crash and Eddie who drive them nuts by playing Whac-A-Mole with them. Manny is still worried about being the last mammoth alive and his family, who had been killed by humans, but is surprised when he encounters Ellie, a female mammoth who believes she is an opossum and Crash and Eddie's adoptive sister. Sid invites her to tag along with the group to escape the flood, and she brings her brothers. After a dangerous encounter with Cretaceous and Maelstrom while crossing a pond, Sid prompts Diego to encourage him to admit and face his fears - Diego insists that "fear is for prey", so Sid points out that Diego is behaving as if he is the water's prey. They discover an area which Ellie recalls as the place where she was adopted. She finally realizes she is a mammoth and also expresses her suspicions about how different she was from other opossums. Despite this bonding moment with Manny, she distances herself from him when he suggests "saving their species". Ellie and Manny ultimately make up 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 tossing him into a volcano. Sid narrowly escapes. The next morning, Sid tells the others his experience but none are convinced. They find a field of hot geysers, which separate Manny, Sid, and Diego from Ellie and her brothers when they argue about which way to go through it.
When the flood comes, Manny saves Ellie from drowning as she is caught in a cave (due to falling rocks), while Diego overcomes his fear of water to save Sid, Crash and Eddie from drowning. Cretaceous and Maelstrom arrive, but due to Manny's quick thinking, they are finished off by a rock which falls on them, killing them both. The other animals are at the mercy of the water currents. Meanwhile, Scrat climbs up the glacier and at the top sticks the acorn he has into the ice. This forms a crack in the glacier, which widens into a fissure, diverting the flood and saving the animals. Scrat is then washed away. In the final scene, a herd of mammoths shows up, but Manny and Ellie decide to remain together anyway, taking Sid, Diego, and the opossum brothers along. Sid encounters the mini-sloths again - they believe Sid stopped the flood and invite him to be their leader. Diego, surprised to see the mini-sloths are real, convinces Sid to stay with the others, reluctantly admitting that Sid is a vital part of their 'herd'.
The epilogue shows Scrat having a near death experience after falling into the fissure. He enters a heaven full of acorns. Suddenly, he finds himself torn away. He unhappily wakes up, having been resuscitated by Sid, who he proceeds to viciously attack.

Tags: romantic, comedy, entertaining, flashback

Review:
Similar to the first Ice Age, the promotional material for the sequel was out in the theatres way in advance, and courtesy of the Scrat character too, up to its usual antics of getting to that elusive acorn.
Here, Scrat opens the movie, and emulating the style of the first, he provides most of the laughs, also as an intermission from the actual scenes from the main cast.Our gang of prehistoric animals are back - Manny the Mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the Sabre-tooth Tiger (Denis Leary).
Along the way, our trio meets up with another trio of characters, who were added to expand the cast, featuring 2 Possums Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), and another, but female, mammoth (Queen Latifah).Needless to say, Manny's still anti-social, and Diego can't get along with those rascal possums who get on his nerves, and Sid's the "philosopher" ever providing the laughs.
Just little phrases and actions the characters do is hilarious!Ice Age: The Meltdown follows the animals on their journey to find dry land when they discover that their lives are at risk if they stay put due to the ice melting.......there are some little adventures and discoveries along the way though!If you have seen the first one you will like this and in case you are wondering......he is still trying to get his nut!I think it is a must see for all ages, not just children..
Leary's Diego is not the showiest turn, but he also has some great moments.In addition to the principals, the possums and the mini sloths are welcome arrivals, and there are some wonderful moments of nutty entertainment, as now computers can portray some truly wacky moments, such as the Berkeley-inspired moment in the sacrificial fire pit and the vulture "food" numbers.This film is a throwback to what made classics such as "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and The Beast" work: solid acting and a good writing base.
At first, "Ice Age: The Meltdown" looks like the inevitable sequel to the famous 20th Century Fox animated blockbuster, trying to cash in the success of the previous movie.
That alone is an achievement in its own right.After some years living in peace in a new pack, our old friends Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), Manny the Mammoth (Ray Romano) and Diego the Sabertooth tiger (Dennis Leary) discover that the ice is melting and a flood will cover the valley they now call home.
Scrat, the nut-obsessed squirrel is back too in his constant quest for his lost nut, giving slapstick humor of the finest type in every scene he is in.It is always hard for sequels to live up to the expectations, specially in family-oriented animation films, but director Carlos Saldanha and his team manage to make a funny movie that never gets boring or tiresome (something vital as it is a movie mainly oriented for kids).While probably the story is not exactly original or complicated, writers Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow make up for it with good character development and funny one-liners that fit the movie tone very good.
Two new characters, the young possums Crash (Sean William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck) are a welcomed addition to the family, as well as Ellie (Queen Latifah), the lost mammoth.Ellie, Manny and their relationship is a very important subplot in the movie, and one that was perfectly handled by the director and his crew.
While Diego's subplot was also interesting and served as basis for very good jokes, it didn't had enough screen-time; a shame in my opinion, but overall the movie was very good.To summarize, fans of the first "Ice Age" won't be disappointed by "The Meltdown", and sure the movie will give laughs to both kids and their parents.
I did think the original 'Ice Age' was a better movie, but this one is pretty good..
Queen Latifah is also really good as Ellie, the mammoth that thinks she is a possum.I did think the original 'Ice Age' was a better movie, but this one is pretty good..
Personally I like the Ice Age films better than the two Shrek movies which I find HIGHLY overrated.
Manny the woolly mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and Diego (Dennis Leary) the saber-toothed tiger embark on yet another journey in "Ice Age: Meltdown, "the sequel from the 2002 blockbuster by Blue Sky Studios and released by 20th Century Fox. This time, ice is melting and a great flood is threatening to drown all animals in the valley in three days, much to the delight of vultures who are keen on having a buffet with the bodies of those who will be unfortunate enough not to outlive it.
It still follows up from the first one, but all in all it feels that there wasn't enough material to hold a full-length movie that the character of Scrat has been given more screen time even if what he does trying to get his acorn doesn't advance the plot at all, albeit helping the film reach barely an hour and a half.
While this movie still does manage to amuse from time to time, on the whole the plot feels more obligatory and jokes seem to be a little bit more blunt.That's not to say "Ice Age: Meltdown" is a total waste because it does still have a few aces up its sleeve.
This time around the three friends Manny, Sid, and Diego must join their newly formed herd to escape the valley they are living in, as the ice is beginning to melt, and threatens to flood the valley.Like last time, there is no grand plot here (the first being based on another journey, this time to return a child to its family), and it merely serves to introduce new characters and create laugh-out-loud situations for the trio to overcome.
It has increased the fear factor somewhat  the group have to evade two nasty looking sea creatures that have been thawed out by the melting ice, and these scenes, although thrilling, can be scary for younger viewers.Ice Age: The Meltdown keeps its individual style of animation; at times crossing between its general cartoon-look and then throwing in some genuinely brilliant effects  the underwater shots in particular, and also the effect of the animal's fur after they leave the water are very nice.
Since the first film was so self contained, there was no real need for a sequel (besides the need for more money ) and this review seemed like a perfect opportunity to chastise the greed of big film studios.Well after watching the film i can report that they'll be no ranting here- Ice age 2 is a pleasantly entertaining and funny film with with some stunning character animation.Much like the original , ice age 2 meanders along a series of set pieces and visual gags and doesn't out stay its welcome.
Fan favourite scrat the squirrel returns for more hilarious, futile attempts to get his elusive nut and there are some clever innuendos for grown ups.However while its entertaining, it has the same problems of the original (a: its a bit too safe b: Its very predictable ) with the addition of some new ones- namely the new characters .Not only are the new characters not interesting but the possum brothers both reach a scrappy doo level of annoyance.Ice age : the melt down is a cash in for sure, but its a funny and entertaining one ..
Full of stereotypes like: good vs evil, the shy male that tries to conquer the heart of the hysterical stupid but cute female, the endless nonsense jokes that try to light the heavier moments, the deep fears that are always defeated in the end of the film by saving a friend, the classic "go after her" in the end of the film after the hero has rejected her in the first place, the funny stupid character that no ones believes when something huge happens to him and so many more.
The original "Ice Age" was a good, not great, movie and I figured that the sequel would be more of the same.
However, Ray Romano's voice 'talents' appear to consist solely of reprising the same annoying character he portrayed for nine years on "Everybody Loves Raymond" (yes, if you were to close your eyes during scenes where Manny is speaking, you would almost swear that you were listening to a whining middle-aged man trying to combat his pushy, know-it-all wife.
Just go to a electronics store chain and see how often this DVD is played as a "demo" to show off new TV sets.Story-wise, what is a bit different from the first movie - and this was fine with me - was more lines and scenes featuring the two funniest characters: Scat, the squirrel and Sid The Sloth.
He had far more screen time in this movie.Meanwhile, John Leguizamo has almost all the funny lines in the feature story as "Sid." I lost track how many humorous things he said, but he just makes everyone laugh out loud during this film.We also get a lot of adventure in here as the ice is melting in the area the animals live and the have to get out the valley before the dam breaks and they are all swept away in a huge flood.
this time around there isn't much of one, and the story and characters were a major part of what made "Ice Age" work - Sid and Diego are sidelined here in favour of Manfred's worrying about his being the last mammoth on Earth (a feeling the first movie handled far more movingly in the cave drawings scene than in this entire flick), with Diego's fear of water seemingly thrown in when the writers remember they have to do something with him.We won't talk about Sid being the Fire King.
Or most of the songs.The movie also fudges a bit with the thawed-out predators pursuing our heroes on their journey to escape the flood; even though they actually do kill one of the animals they never really emerge as much of a threat (compare them to Sharptooth in "The Land Before Time," with which this shares the basic premise) - and when you think about it, not since "Casper" has a film aimed so much at younger viewers had such an obsession with death, what with one key scene involving a deceased mammoth and the threat of extinction looming over all their heads.
Sid, Manny and especially Diego remain engaging, and the vulture voiced by Will "Gob Bluth" Arnett really deserved more time; John Powell's score is one of his better efforts (although I still prefer David Newman's work on the first film - pity he didn't return); and Scrat has considerably less difficulty stealing the movie than he has in hanging on to his nut (I shamelessly confess to being more gripped by his travails than by the main story).
Ice Age: The Meltdown is the standard sequel, more or less of the same but just not as equally fun.The movie is about how the ice is melting and it will soon create a massive flood, leading to the possible deaths of thousands of animals.
The mammoths just didn't seem like that great of a couple, Sid and Diego was missing that comical spark, Manny didn't have as many good one-liners, and the rest of the animals they run into just weren't as funny (The Dodos from the first one was a hoot).
He's especially funny with Sid. If you enjoy the Ice Age films, I also recommend The Land Before Time adventures.
But in spite of that I thought "Ice Age: The Meltdown" looked really funny and different, and because cartoon films are almost always amusing in some way.
See also Shrek 2 and 3) but it provides enough jokes along the way to cadge a few laughs, and I guess little kids might like the possums and their antics even if the adults tire quickly.Ice Age 1 and 2 are basically road movies, the three animals must get from Point A at the start of the movie to Point B by the credits.
I won't tell you the story but I will say this.It is worth the $6.50 to see it.If you have not seen the first one yet I recommend seeing the first Ice Age to follow along better.Same great story line with the same humor and charisma that some movie sequels lack.
Starting with expectations I didn't really expect the world from this movie, just the same lovable characters (all the characters are back including some great new ones), a whole lot of PG rated jokes and maybe one or two really funny moments, peppered with a few emotional moments that are the staple of such films.And this movie met every one of those expectations and in some cases even exceeded them.Also this is ONE of the rare sequels that are as good if not better than the original and that in itself makes this movie extra special.The animation of this movie is top notch and save for the fact that they make the fire and water too realistic in some scenes it had the perfect feel of a old fashioned cartoon film.The acting is superb and besides the earlier characters this movie introduces 3 great characters namely a scamming armadillo (jay Leno at his best) and two over-smart possums.
I didn't seem to care to much for Ellie the mammoth (queen latifah has become way to monotonous i knew it was her without even seeing the credits).The background score of the film is great and certainly adds to beauty of this film.The jokes are hilarious and extremely well thought of, with a liberal dose of jokes that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and a few select jokes that will seem funnier to adults.
So, the animation is superb in this sequel to 'Ice Age', however it unfortunately falls into the same trap of the first film - having a formulaic story and children's level jokes next to the visual delights.
I will point out now however, if you haven't seen Ice Age 1 then it's a good idea to see that before this one; you will still find this film good and funny, but I think by seeing the first one you will understand the characters a lot easier.
Just in time for the end of the classes, ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN starts out the summer season with such a sizzling meltdown of fun and laughter.In this sequel of the highly successful and enjoyable animated comedy "ICE AGE", Manny the woolly mammoth, Sid the Sloth, and Diego the Saber-tooth Tiger, along with Scrat the Rodent are back, continuing their adventurous life during the Earth's Ice Age. But this time, their little peace is alarmed when they found out that there is a big meltdown that is about to happen and that it may cause a catastrophic flood that can wipe them off the face of the Earth.
The film is directed by Carlos Saldanha whose credits include animated features "Robots" and the first "Ice Age" movie.I was surprised to see the theater packed with kids and families on a Wednesday evening screening.
Yet somehow, Ice Age: The Meltdown forgets about it when its attention is diverted back to the main story, which is unappealing to begin with.Like in Toy Story 2, new characters are introduced to the original pack of Manny, Sid and Diego, but they're one step away from total nut jobs and are generally not very likable characters.
On their way they meet Ellie  a large mammoth that offers Manny hope for the future  if only she didn't think that she was a possum like her "brothers" Crash and Eddie.Although I thought Ice Age was an OK film I must admit that I assumed any sequel would be one of those "no star voices" affairs that go straight to video sale and wondered why they bothered to follow up such an unremarkable film.
Ice Age the Melt Down is a great animated family film.
The film includes the main 3 characters from the first movie, these being Sid, Manny and Diego, and we get some new great characters who are funny, including Ellie and her 'brother' possums.
This movie lived up to the standard created by the original Ice Age, and kept the humour coming.The old characters, and of course the new ones interacted well and the clips of Scrat chasing his acorn were inserted just at the right times.
Manny is delighted until he realizes that this particular mammoth thinks its a possum.The animation has improved greatly from the original.This is filled with laughs.Wise words from the delightful Sid and slapstick humour from Scrat this is a funny movie.You maybe disappointed if you expect this to live up to sequels such as Shrek 2 or Toy Story 2.Nevertheless i recommend that you see it and form your own opinion.I give this movie 6/10 as i was quite disappointed with too many characters that you don't get to learn enough about to form a complete opinion..
The characters were unfamiliar to me, except for Scrat the squirrel which I have seen for almost half a year now through constant advertising.Scratt was easily the best part of the film, his little chase of the acorns worked quite well and meshed in well with the plot near the end.But the rest of the cast wasn't quite as enjoyable, although I liked Sid and could personally relate to how he never got any respect from his friends and companions.Diego was funny and sarcastic, though I felt he didn't get enough screen time.
Her character wasn't annoying at all, and sometimes I completely forgot it was HER voice.The plot is simple: The ice age is coming to an end and everything is going to melt and the animals need a new place to go or they'll drown.