Ice Age

***Ice Age*** was released on March 15, 2002 as an American computer-animated fantasy-comedy-drama adventure film directed by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha. It is the first of five films released in the *Ice Age* series, made by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The film is set during the days of the ice age; animals begin migrating south to escape the winters. Once Manny, a no-nonsense mammoth, meets Sid, a loudmouthed ground sloth, and the two find a human baby named Roshan, they set out to return the baby. Joining them is a saber-tooth tiger named Diego, who is commanded by his pack leader, Soto, to bring the baby to him to enact revenge against the humans.

The film received generally positive from critics and audiences alike. The film was a box office success, earning $383 worldwide against its $59 million budget. The film won several film awards, including an Academy Award nomination.

## Synopsis

### Manny meets Sid

A surly mammoth named Manfred and a enthusiastic ground sloth named Sid refuse to join the migration for the ice age. Abandoned by his family, Sid attempts to migrate alone but runs afoul of his two rhinos best friends named Carl and Frank, who try to attack Sid but fail due to Manfred stepping in, only to leave Sid behind afterward. Sid stays with Manfred, referring to the mammoth as “Manny”, for protection, much to Manny’s dismay.

A tribe of humans camp near a waterfall, among them their leader, named Runar, with his wife Nadia and their infant son Roshan, before heading north to their settlement in the mountains. Soto, leader of a pack of saber-tooth tigers, watches the humans with his trusted lieutenant, a cat named Diego. Soto, seeking revenge against the humans for wiping out half of his pack, intends to devour Runar’s son Roshan in vengeance and plans an attack for the next morning. The attack takes place, with Diego pursuing Nadia, but she escapes with Roshan, jumping over the waterfalls so that Diego returns to Soto with no baby; the pack agrees to meet at Half Peak, where Diego will produce the baby for Soto.

### Returning the Baby

Manny and Sid journey on, Manny bothered by the sloth's constant talking, until the two find Nadia on a riverbank, weakened greatly by her jump over the falls, with hardly enough strength to pass her son to Manny before she disappears. Manny leaves, but Sid intends to return the baby to his "herd", which Manny will not help with. The two meet Diego, who takes the baby, claiming that he intends to return him to the humans. Manny, unconvinced, decides to help Sid return the baby to his family, leaving the saber behind; the humans' camp is abandoned and Manny reluctantly decides to head north to find the humans’ settlement at Glacier Pass and return the baby, taking Diego along as a guide.

The trio take the baby up north and meet a fanatical flock of dodos on the way, from which they procure food for the baby. During the trek, however, Diego secretly meets up with two of his pack mates, who pass a message from Soto, demanding the baby; Diego sends them back with a message to Soto, promising the baby and Manny. The following morning, Sid takes the baby to a mud crater, where he meets two female sloths named Jennifer and Rachel, who he tries to court using the baby, which Manny takes back; Sid returns to the mud crater, only to find the sloths gone, Carl and Frank in their place. The rhinos pursue Sid, who runs into Diego and pleads to the saber to deter the rhinos: Diego pretends to have killed Sid to throw the rhinos off the trail and releases his grip once the rhinos leave; Diego then moves on with Manny and Sid. On the way, the group runs into a number of predicaments, from a changing landscape to freezing ice age blizzards. The group meets a saber-tooth squirrel named Scrat, who had seen a pack of sabers go by and tries to tell Manny before Diego surreptitiously flicks Scrat away.

### Shortcut

Further on, Diego spots the humans close by and suggests a shortcut to waylay Manny and Sid to an ambush point; this shortcut takes them through an ice cavern which leads to a cave adorned with paintings, all featuring animals. Among the paintings is the image of a mammoth family, hunted by humans, which Manny views, revealing that the mammoths depicted were Manny’s family and Manny himself: Manny’s wife and child were hunted by humans, leaving Manny alive and embittered at the world for his loss. The baby reaches out to the painting, comforting Manny in that he lets go of his bitterness at having lost his wife and child.

### A Herd

Further on, the group grows closer to Glacier Pass when they reach a lava field, which they must cross. Diego nearly falls into the lava but Manny saves him, falling into the lava pit himself as the ice he is standing on breaks off. Manny is launched out of the lava pit unharmed, launched out with the ice he stood on. Diego, in wonderment at Manny’s actions, asks why Manny risked his life to save him, Manny replying that such sacrifices where what herds did. Meanwhile, Soto and his pack plan for the ambush on Manny, aided by Diego.

### Ambush

That night, while settling down by campfire, Diego begins to see the error of his ways in betraying Manny. After the others fall asleep, Scrat appears on the scene with his acorn, planning to thaw it from the ice, baking it instead by mistake into a hot kernel. The group continued on, reaching Half Peak, where Diego, feeling remorse for betraying Manny's trust, confesses his plans to Manny, which angers the mammoth. Manny pins Diego to a rock wall, intending to kill him for his misdeeds, but Diego, having had a change of heart, agrees to help Manny escape the pack.

Leading the pack away from Manny, who they intended to ambush, Sid slides off on two pieces of bark with a decoy baby made of snow; the pack, however, catches up with Manny, who knocks them away with a log, save for one, named Zeke, who Sid stomps into a hollow tree. Soto catches up with them and corners Manny, asking Diego to help bring the mammoth down; Diego defects from Soto and defends Manny at his own expense as Soto brings Diego down, wounding him. Soto then turns to Manny, intending to attack him alone, but the mammoth, in vengeance, knocks Soto into an ice wall, which jars loose a number of hanging icicles, impaling him. The other sabers, Oscar and Lenny, return to find their leader killed and flee the scene.

### Happy Ending

Manny, Sid, and the baby are safe; Diego, however, is severely injured and appears to succumb to his wounds, leaving Manny and Sid to find the humans by themselves. The two find the humans, who ready themselves to attack when Manny produces Roshan, safe and sound. Grateful for Manny's returning Roshan, Runar calls off the attack and bestows a beaded necklace to Manny in thanks before leaving with the baby. Manny and Sid leave and find Diego, who survived the attack due to his "nine lives" The three become a herd and decide to head south together, ending the movie.

## Voice Actors

* Manny .... Ray Romano
* Sid .... John Leguizamo
* Soto .... Goran Visnjic
* Diego .... Denis Leary
* Carl .... Cedric the Entertainer
* Frank, Start.... Stephen Root
* Rachel .... Lorri Bagley
* Jennifer .... Jane Krakowski
* Glyptodon .... Denny Dillon
* Glyptodon .... Mitzi McCall
* Zeke .... Jack Black
* Oscar .... Diedrich Bader
* Lenny, Dab .... Alan Tudyk
* Dodo, Scrat .... Chris Wedge
* Dodo .... Dann Fink
* Dodo, .... Peter Ackerman
* Dodo .... P.J. Benjamin
* Dodo Aardvark .... Josh Hamilton

## Deleted scenes

Originally, Sid was trying to avoid another sloth named Sylvia. He manages to lose her by putting her in the path of some migrating Glyptodon, who unknowingly carry her off when she got caught on their backs. Later, Sid makes it look like Diego had killed him, but she saw that he was faking, so she deserted him in anger and told Diego to eat the sloth. This segment was still used in the movie, but was used for Sid to avoid the two brontotheres who were still after him, as they fell for the trick. It was kept in the storybook version, however. The deleted scenes can be viewed separately, or in Nutty Movie Mode, both of which are included on Disc 1 of the two-disc Special Edition DVD.

## Soundtrack

The film score was composed by David Newman, this is the only *Ice Age* soundtrack that he composed, the other ones were made by John Powell.

## Reception

### Critical Response

Reviews were generally positive from critics. The films holds a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 60 "mixed or average reviews" on Metacritic. However, audiences loved the film even more than the critics. The film also earned an "A" from CinemaScore.

### Box Office

The film made $46,312,454 on its opening weekend debuting at #1. It made $176,387,405 domestically and $206,869,731 elsewhere for a worldwide total of $383,257,136 worldwide. It became the 8th highest grossing film in 2002.

### Awards

*Ice Age* received 28 nominations including an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.

## Trivia

* While critics did give the film positive reviews, the audience loved the film even more.
* Was a box office hit when it was released in 2002.
* Grossed $383 million worldwide against it's $59 million budget.
* Only film in the *Ice Age* franchise where David Newman composed the musical score.
* Is the highest-rated *Ice Age* film with a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 60 on Meatcritic.
* Often considered to be the best *Ice Age* film.
* The film's massive success helped launch Blue Sky Studios into a successful animation studio.
* Was originally going to be a dramatic, non-comedic hand-drawn animated film directed by Don Bluth, but was given to Blue Sky and they turned it into the computer-animated film that we all know.
* 20th Century Fox would only take this film if it was turned into a comedy.
* Many love this film for it's heartwarming story and it's well-written and likable characters.
* David Newman also composed *Anastasia,* another 20th Century Fox animated film.
* Every actor was encouraged to improvise as much as they can to keep the animation spontaneous.
* This was the only film to use Blue Sky Studios' old "blue dash" logo as it only appears on trailers and posters (even on the poster to Robots), as later with the release of Robots, it would use the iconic one (the "blue circle shield") logo.
* The only *Ice Age* film to not come out the same year as a Pixar film.
* This is the only *Ice Age* movie to have the humans.
* This is the only *Ice Age* movie to be THX Certified on DVD.
* This was the only *Ice Age* movie to be released on VHS.