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"Maybe I'll Be The
Star Of Ice Age 3!" |
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Directed by Carlos
Saldanha - Written by
Peter Gaulke
Starring Ray Romano,
Denis Leary, John
Leguizamo, Queen Latifah
Distributed by 20th
Century Fox - 2006 -
90mins - Rated PG |
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Richard Propes'
Review
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C |
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Kiss Your Ice Goodbye! |
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I have a Friday
night ritual.
It started January 1, 2006. The day IndependentCritics.com went live,
my Friday night's became about seeing the latest film releases. On any
given weekend, I find myself watching anywhere from one to four films.
The routine is always the same. I leave work about 5:30 or 6:00pm, I
grab a quick bite to eat and I head to the theatre. I typically find
myself seeing the latest matinee showing, or the 7pm and 9pm showings
for the latest films. Then, I rush home and joyfully write my reviews.
Truthfully, I've grown to really enjoy this routine and it is
frequently the highlight of my week.
Tonight, I'm having a meltdown.
I should have seen it coming. I'd had a demanding day at work that
caused the work day to be extended until nearly 8:00pm. I arrive at
the theatre in time to catch a showing of "Ice Age: The Meltdown," the
film I have agreed to review this evening. The evening is starting to
look promising...the auditorium is crowded, but not TOO crowded. There
are kids in the audience...now some consider this a bad thing, but I
consider having kids in the audience a necessity when watching a
children's or family film. This particular group seemed well-behaved,
but very enthusiastic. Ahhh. There was hope after all.
I am now at home sitting at my computer writing my review. I'm
struggling. I keep stopping and starting over. There really aren't
words to express how I feel about "Ice Age 2," but meltdown seems like
a good place to start.
Remember the original? It was a largely irrelevant, yet oddly
endearing film featuring unique characters, an actual storyline and,
well, Scrat. Remember Scrat? He's the one in all the trailers...that
adorable little squirrel-like animal who's always chasing the acorn.
The original "Ice Age" found its way to a US gross of over $176
million. So, a sequel would have to be considered inevitable.
"Ice Age: The Meltdown" kicks off many years later, but features the
vast majority of the same characters (with no apparent signs of
aging). We have Manny (Ray Romano), a woolly mammoth, along with his
closest friends Diego (Denis Leary), a sabre-tooth tiger, and Sid
(John Leguizamo), a sloth.
"Ice Age: The Meltdown" is, essentially, a road flick. Once we are
introduced to the characters, we learn from Fast Tony (Jay Leno), that
the ice is melting and all the animals must leave the valley if they
are to survive. Rather accidentally, Manny discovers this is, indeed,
true and everyone begins their journey.
Manny, who has grown to fear that he's the last living mammoth, meets
Ellie (Queen Latifah), a woolly mammoth who believes she's a possum.
She travels with her two possum brothers, Eddie (Josh Peck) and Crash
(Seann William Scott).
Of course, the journey is harrowing and dangerous and suspenseful as
they fight for survival and learn valuable life lessons along the way.
Director Carlos Saldanha takes a lighter approach to the festivities,
an approach that occasionally reaps great rewards. Scrat, for example,
is back in even lengthier segments that seem to serve as transitional
scenes to the main plot action. These scenes are funny, inventive and
nearly always more interesting than anything else going on.
Likewise, a scene involving vultures waiting for them to do while
doing a spin-off of "Food, Glorious, Food!" is entertaining and funny,
though I kept asking myself "How does this fit at all?"
"How does this fit at all?" became the recurring question throughout
the 90-minute film. There were a few cute, funny scenes but they
seemed disconnected from anything related to the actual plot of the
film. Repeatedly, scenes would occur with great suspense never to be
referred to again.
The greatest challenge I had during "Ice Age: The Meltdown" is that it
never involved me enough to allow me to suspend belief. In order for
an animated film to work, there's a certain amount of buy-in required.
I never bought in to this film, and found myself regularly distracted
by animation that seemed bland and boring, a script that seemed to use
words a bit too advanced for the target audience, and the scenes were
so disconnected that even the film's comic moments weren't sustained.
Have you ever watched a film only to find yourself at the end of it
asking yourself "Why did that need to be made?" Ultimately, that's the
feeling I have as I sit here less than an hour after watching "Ice
Age: The Meltdown." While box-office success is practically assured,
"Ice Age: The Meltdown" is only minimally successful at recreating the
energy, spirit and heart of the original film. "Ice Age: The Meltdown"
is a major letdown. |
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© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
TC Candler's Comment
Cute,
quaint, familiar... the kids will like it
because kids are dumb. Adults will be
rather bemused by the lack of material.
Jacob Hall's
Comment
n/a
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