Somewhere between the second and third installments of this lively and popular franchise, Ice Age saw much of its mojo melt away.
So, for the first time, lackluster storytelling keeps this feature from springing to life. Not that the kids who dominate its target audience will care.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs follows Ice Age (2002) and Ice Age: The Meltdown (2004) to the marketplace. The first two were bright, witty, engaging frolics centering on the adventures of three prehistoric creatures and offering a spirited blend of laughs, thrills, and insights for the youngsters in attendance.
Our third journey back to the Ice Age brings back the three principals but plugs them into a terribly flimsy narrative. Sequelitis has obviously set in, because this feather-thin family feature feels like it is coasting on the commercial coattails of its two predecessors.
Wooly mammoths Manny and Ellie (voiced once again by Ray Romano and Queen Latifah) have a tiny mammoth on the way. Sabre-toothed tiger (Dennis Leary) Diego worries that he's no longer a strong predator.
And Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) sees the joyful anticipation in his mammoth friends and wants children of his own. That's why he rescues the three dinosaur eggs that he finds and decides to mother the dino-triplets in the absence of their real T. Rex mom, wherever she might be.
Thus is triggered a series of events that take our sub-zero heroes to a land beneath the ice, to an underground home where the dinos still roam. (Historical reality be darned -- hey, if Year One can mix and match eras, then so can this movie.)
Coming to the aid of our heroes is a slightly mad, swashbuckling, dinosaur-hunting, one-eyed weasel named Buck (Simon Pegg), an add-on to the franchise that has minimal narrative impact.
And, of course, slapstick-prone Scrat the squirrel -- who, when you come right down to it, is starring in a movie of his own here -- continues to chase that elusive acorn while responding to the charms of a fetching female squirrel who wants the acorn for herself.
Unlike many of the recent animated attractions, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs does not punctuate its storyline with winking jokes and pop culture references aimed at adults. Instead, directors Carlos Saldanha (who co-directed the first one and directed the second) and co-director Mike Thurmeier are content to celebrate the importance of family, extended or otherwise, and concentrate on what will please the kids, expecially the very young, while leaving much of the rest of the audience out in the cold.
Beyond the film's limited story values (there's barely enough plot to fill out the feature length, which is why the Scrat bits are so prominent and why there are several false endings), the voice cast register as if they're phoning it in. Romano, Leary, Leguizamo, and Latifah sound, if not indifferent and bored, then at least uninspired.
As for the dynamic 3-D process, while it is either unnecessary or downright distracting in an absorbing animated feature at the quality level of Up!, in this case it's a stimulating element for the small fry that should add to the film's appeal even if it fails to enhance the aesthetics.
So we'll dawn on 2 stars out of 4 for a tired toon that could use a tuneup. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is one sequel that doesn't equal its prequels.
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/16/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Planet 51," "New Moon," and "The Blind Side." (3:02)
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/9/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Precious," "2012," and "Pirate Radio." (3:02)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/13/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the drama "Precious," the adventure disaster "2012," and the comedy "Pirate Radio." (17:24)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/06/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine look at the comedy-war film, "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the animated re-make, "A Christmas Carol," and the horror-mystery-thriller "The Fourth Kind." (18:45)
Movie Reviews - Week of 11/2/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "The Men Who Stare at Goats", "A Christmas Carol" and "The Fourth Kind". (3:01)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/30/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the Chris Rock documentary, "Good Hair," Michael Jackson's "This is It," and the action-crime-drama "The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day." (17:43)
Movie Reviews - Week of 10/26/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Good Hair", "This Is It" and "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day". (3:00)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/23/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the animated adventure "Astro Boy," the bio-drama"Amelia," and the action-adventure-comedy "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant." (17:20)
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Our third journey back to the Ice Age brings back the three principals but plugs them into a terribly flimsy narrative. Sequelitis has obviously set in, because this feather-thin family feature feels like it is coasting on the commercial coattails of its two predecessors.
