Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Director

Mike Thurmeier

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Sean William Scott, Simon Pegg, Keke Palmer, Jennifer Lopez, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jessie J, Adam DeVine, Wanda Sykes, Melissa Rauch, Chris Wedge

Storyline

Since Scrat (Chris Wedge) sets off a series of cosmic events that threaten the planet, Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid (John Leguizamo) join up with Buck (Simon Pegg) to save the world.

Opinion

Four years ago, after "Ice Age: Continental Drift", I thought they would end the franchise because that film definitely wasn't a good entry. When I found out they were making a new one, I knew it wouldn't bode well. And this belief was further strengthened when I found out that Buck, one of the best characters in the franchise as well as my favourite, would come back. If you bring back an old character, I told to myself, chances are the material isn't good enough. And I wasn't wrong.

In fact, "Ice Age: Collision Course" is just another entry that completely lacks originality, but mostly important, it's definitely not funny.

The writing, despite the cold setting of the film, is a hot mess. The story is a terrible and very boring stack of an uninteresting and unengaging main storyline and too many unnecessary subplots, unnecessary loaded with drama, like the whole I just want my father-in-law to like me family drama.

But the awful writing doesn't stop there. The film also feature awful new characters whose only purpose is to be plot devices. Some of them doesn't even have a real reason to be there, like Sid's girlfriend. Unfortunately the dreadful work of the writers doesn't end with the new characters. They indeed have managed to destroy the old characters as well. Manny is just an excuse to make the film, Diego has no role in the story, and Sid, well, it's not like he was a great character before. The straw that broke the camel is Buck. I loved him in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" but they completely ruined him here.

Being a comedy, the film is supposed to be funny, am I right? Apparently this time the dress code was unfunny. In fact the jokes that are mostly based on stereotypical gender roles, are so lame I couldn't believe they actually said that.

And what a shame to waste such good animation in this mess. 

Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Director

Steve Martino | Michael Thurmeier

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Peter Dinklage, Wanda Sykes, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah, Josh Gad, Keke Palmer, Nick Frost, Aziz Ansari, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Alan Tudyk, Ester Dean, Kunal Nayyar, Rebel Wilson, Eddie Sotelo, Joy Behar, Alain Chabat, Heather Morris, Chris Wedge, Patrick Stewart

Storyline

When Scrat (Chris Wedge) accidentally provokes a continental cataclysm, Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid's granny (Wanda Sykes) get separated from their home. As they sail across the sea with an iceberg for a ship, they encounter sea creatures that are determined to stop them from reaching their home.

Opinion

If you have been reading my reviews for the past month, you then know that I like the Ice Age series. That being said, they should really have stopped, because this fourth installment isn't good. "Ice Age: Continental Drift" indeed is a quite boring, not really enjoyable animated film, the drift of a good series.

Until now I've been saying how simple yet interesting the story was. Unfortuntately this time I cannot say the same. It is so not interesting mainly because the group that was supposed to fight extinction -which happened in the previous three films - somehow ended up fighting pirates.

The story to "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" was definitely unrealistic because there were no dinosaurs during the ice age, but at least it was interesting, and mostly important was made interesting by the characters. And guess what this film lacks of? That's right, interesting characters. Sure, there's Sid's granny who brings some fun to the film that it's not enough to balance the awful villain(s) or Peaches' new friends.

Also there are too many subplots that have no purpose whatsoever. Which is exactly what happened in the last film, meaning the filmmakers do not know how to learn from their mistakes.

But the animation is good and of course better than the three previous films - that's where the half point comes from.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Directors

Carlos Saldanha | Mike Thurmeier

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Sean William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah, Simon Pegg, Chris Wedge, Karen Disher, Bill Hader, Joey King, Jane Lynch, Kristen Wiig, Carlos Saldanha, Eunice Cho, Maile Flanagan, Clea Lewis, Devika Parikh

Storyline

After stealing three dinosaur eggs, Sid (John Leguizamo) is abducted by their real mother to an underground lost world, and his friends attempts to rescue him.

Opinion

I don't say it often because it rarely happens, but at the third installment of the franchise Blue Sky doesn't misfire and delivers another good animated film. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" indeed is a nice and entertaining film that appeals both kids and adults (if possible I think I like it even more now that I'm an adult).

Once again, the story is quite simple and easy to follow and it's executed quite well. The whole dinosaurs idea is quite interesting, and I don't care how unrealistic that is, this is a cartoon after all.

Maybe this time the screenwriters worked too much to create all those subplots. The romantic subplot involving Scrat and the female Scratte is nice and has a lot of funny moments, but some others don't have a place in the film. The pregnancy subplot, for example, doesn't have any purpose.

But those little flaws can be forgiven thanks to the characters. Even though Diego has been basically watered down into cameo quality, a new entry steals the show, Simon Pegg's Buck, a looney weasel who joins the herd halfway through. When he makes his entrance, the film completely changes. The earlier few dead moments are replaced with funny ones, and I believe it's impossible not to fall in love with the characters.

There are a lot of jokes and visual gags. The animation is great - I remember watching it in 3D when it came out and it was great. And it's good in 2D as well. And the voice cast does a good job. And yes, I loved Simon Pegg.

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Animation

Director

Carlos Saldanha

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Chris Wedge, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Will Arnett, Jay Leno, Tom Fahn, Alex Sullivan, Alan Tudyk, Clea Lewis

Storyline

When the valley where they live is threatened by the melt of the surrounding ice, Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo) and Diego (Denis Leary) join the other animals for a journey to high ground, and discover that Manny is not the last of the mammoths.

Opinion

After four years of hibernation, the most weird animal trio ever came back with "Ice Age: The Meltdown", a funny and enjoyable adventure film that is also a good sequel.

Once again, the plot is quite simple and it rather serves as a pretext to show another adventure starring the same trio of the first time, the talkative sloth Sid, the grumpy mammoth Manny and the loyal sabertooth tiger Diego. New characters also arrive: Ellie, a female mammoth who believe she is a possum, and Crash, and Eddie, her two possum brothers, and they make the storyline much more intriguing.

Scrat has a lot more screen time, and, even though I'm probably one of the few that find Scrat an utterly annoying little animal, and despite the fact that its sub-plot has little to do with the rest of the film, it does have two purpose, make people laugh - which works beautifully - and deliver a message without even talking. What's the message? A pretty common one in kid movies, we should not give up easily.

Between a gag and other, in addition to the central theme of friendship, the film also deals with overcoming fears in the face of danger.

Once again, the animation is beautiful, from every single character to the breathtaking landscapes. And the voice cast once again deliver great performances - I particularly enjoyed Queen Latifah's as Ellie. 

Ice Age (2002)

Genre

Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Directors

Chris Wedge | Carlos Saldanha

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Chris Wedge, Goran Višnjić, Jack Black, Diedrich Bader, Alan Tudyk, Cedric the Entertainer, Stephen Root, Jane Krakowski, Lorri Bagley

Storyline

Back when the Earth was covered in ice, an odd group of animals, Manny (Ray Romano), a mammoth, Diego (Denis Leary), a sabertooth tiger, and Sid (John Leguizamo), a sloth, find a lost human infant, and they try to return him to his tribe.

Opinion

As the fifth entry in the franchise is set to be released soon - August 25 in this part of the world -, I took the opportunity to rewatch all the films and review them for you. Today I'm back to the roots, when it all began with "Ice Age", a nice looking, funny and entertaining animated flick.

The story is very simple, lacking both of plot twists and deep morals, but at least it's not banal. It simply chooses to just tell a story about the relationship - eventually it becomes a friendship - between a group of different animals. Not only the look completely different on the outside - one is a mammoth, one a sabertooth tiger and the other a sloth - but the reason that pushes each of them to embark on this journey is different.

The three main animals being so different from each other is the film's biggest strength as it brings a lot of comic and funny situations. And you will fall in love with the characters, especially with the prehistoric squirrel and its desperate attempts to bury its nuts.

The voice cast, especially Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary, does a good job and contributes in the making of this entertaining film, that both kids and adults will enjoy.

The animation isn't spectacular, but I have to give Blue Sky Studios and Fox Animation big credits because the budget for this film was relatively small. It's not Pixar's quality, but nobody would have expected that anyway.