Ice Age (2002)
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Ice Age Movie Review
Ice Age is a 2002 adventure comedy film directed by Chris Wedge and starring Ray Romano and John Leguizamo. It’s one of Blue Sky Studios’ stronger films.
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“For a second there,
I actually thought you were gonna eat me.
I don’t eat junk food“
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Obviously, in terms of plotting itself this movie is highly derivative. In humor, it reminds me of DreamWorks movies, but in the baby storyline, it’s literally lifted in its entirety from ‘Monsters, Inc’ which remains an infinitely better movie. That doesn’t mean that the movie is bad as it does what it can to still deliver a somewhat fresh experience, but still the influences are more than obvious in this instance.
But the movie works so well largely thanks to its very effective humor as these comedians deliver solid lines of dialogue and the character interactions are strong throughout. I honestly find all of these characters superbly written and instantly memorable. It’s obvious why they wanted to cash in on this success by making many more movies in the franchise as the characters are a lot of fun.
Manny is so well performed by Ray Romano with his instantly recognizable droll voice. I really liked his personality and he’s the heart of the picture. Sid can be too annoying, but overall this sloth is a highly memorable creation having in mind that he steals the show comedy-wise and his movements and overall behavior are quite funny.
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Diego is superb. Yes, his shift to the good side is typically cartoony and unrealistic, but it’s still handled well as it’s not overly abrupt, but gradual and ultimately very rewarding emotionally speaking. I loved the relationship between these three and the baby is also immensely cute, though she’s no Boo of course. As for Scrat, he’s obviously a filler character, but he most definitely works as this Looney Tunes type goofy creation and his acorn adventures are always very entertaining.
Ice Age features dated animation, there is no other way to say it. Admittedly, some of the stuff here is excellent, with the ice and that cave being great examples of quality animation that still is mesmerizing to a degree, but otherwise the movie is dated as the characters are unpolished, though very well designed, and the entire CGI is clearly weaker than both ‘Shrek’ and ‘Monsters, Inc’ which came the year before.
What I love about this movie, apart from its humor, is its heart, yes, but most importantly its adventure elements. It succeeds wildly as this highly engaging, wonderful adventure flick which definitely is historically inaccurate as all of these animals did not exist in the same time period, but overall the feel of this period is well achieved for the smaller audiences through some great details. I loved how the four just traveled throughout most of the movie and that road trip element was the standout here.
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But Ice Age is short in its runtime and though the pacing is good, I wanted a more memorable beginning and ending. As for the score, it’s fine, but forgettable. And of course the dialogue and some of the things the guys do are too cartoony and unrealistic. But this easily remains the best entry in the franchise with the most heart and the best moments with that very intriguing and amusing cave sequence being the highlight for me.
The first Ice Age movie clearly remains the best one in the franchise which saw diminishing results afterwards. Yes, its plot is very much a rip-off of ‘Monsters, Inc’ in the baby storyline, but it works as a wonderful, fun adventure which is also quite funny thanks to terrific voice acting and dialogue delivery. The characterization is also superb as Sid, Manny, Diego and Scrat are instantly memorable creations.
