Ice Age-Insert Some Half-Ass Joke About Cold or Ice or Something
Ice Age doesn’t reinvent the wheel, because the wheel hadn’t been invented yet...See had they invented the wheel, yet? Okay, well, now you sort of have a picture of the kind of humor that is in the movie, only funnier I suppose, which is a good thing. Ice Age doesn’t do much new, I suppose the setting is slightly new, but it’s the run of the mill animated kid flick in most ways. That said, you are likely to still enjoy it despite of some of the worst casting in memory.
The story has us following a mix-matched group of chums Manfred voiced by Ray Romano, Sid voiced by John Leguizamo and Diego voiced by Denis Leary, because only well known celebrities can do voice overs-there a law. Speaking of laws you have to wonder if there is one that declares that kids must like people with annoying voices, i.e. Ray Romano and John Leguizamo. Don’t try convincing me that these guys do not have annoying voices, because they do, end of story. It’s the part of a large, for lack of a better word, tradition that we see in animated films in which studios believe that animated movies aimed at kids, absolutely must be voiced by annoying people, with annoying voices. Monsters Inc is an excellent example of this “tradition” using Billy Crystal for voice work.
The story is driven by the quest of the three chums to return a human infant to its tribe. At least this story is different and lacks the social programming so often found in animated movies. For this I am thankful as Ice Age’s plot doesn’t have a magical factory to work in, such as in Monsters Inc. or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The three friends must undergo numerous perils along the way and of course they grow into quite good friends during their adventure. Ice Age gets the job done and it was a money machine, which means it really gets the job done. The budget was roughly $50-$60 million and parents begging god for a couple of hours of silence, well they get screwed a bit, as the film is only 81 minutes long, but hey Hollywood always screws you for a few minutes on the animated films. But the weary parents shells out over $350 million. Nice.
While the visuals of the animation are quiet good the score is only passable but at least does not distract from the action. Composer David Newman, cousin of Randy Newman, yes the Randy Newman you love so well and brother of composer Thomas Newman and son of composer Alfred Newman does a good enough job and he better because I think there are about 25 other Newmans waiting for to replace him.
Its cute, its simply and maybe a little annoying for adults but the kids will like it, it has some laughs and it doesn’t try too hard. Essentially it is what it is and that’s okay...
Story C+
Acting C
Visuals B+
Originality/Innovation C
Enjoyability Grade B
Home Theater/HD Factor B+ (Ice Age is especially good as visual tranquilizer for little ones.)
Overall Grade B ( Youngsters will really enjoy the film and parents will think it has its moments, which is good enough for a film whose primary focus is at a younger audience.)
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