Following in the footsteps of Disney and DreamWorks, 20th Century Fox has entered the digital animation game with “Ice Age.”
In the film, a lone mammoth named Manny ends up with the sloth Sid as a traveling companion, much to his displeasure. The two come across baby Roshan, who is left abandoned after a pack of saber tooth tigers attack a native village. Manny and Sid decided to try and return Roshan to the tribe, but not before Diego, one of the tigers involved in the attack, joins the effort.
Like “Monsters Inc.” and “Shrek” before it, “Ice Age” has amazing digital animation. It’s nowhere near as flawless as what Disney has been able to do, but it is somewhat improved from what “Shrek” had to offer.
Ray Romano provides a dead-on performance as Manny. He delivers his lines with deadpan comedic timing. Romano shows more attitude than his sitcom allows him to. John Leguizamo makes Sid the annoying sidekick that you can still love. Diego is a much better animated match for Dennis Leary than his role as Francis the ladybug in Disney’s “A Bug?s Life.”
The one drawback is that “Ice Age” tries too hard to be like “Shrek” in that jokes are added that only older audience members will catch. Early in the movie the discussion between Manny, Sid and Deigo has many homosexual undertones (especially along the lines of gay adoption). Later on, references are made to “Star Trek.” Some jokes are subtle but many were literally pounded into your head. Just because the movie was created on computer does not mean that it needs a lot of grown-up jokes.
Of course, this film was rated PG for another reason. You might want to cover the eyes of the very young during the final few minutes. Without giving much away, the film ends with one rough and nasty battle. The characters face some unreal peril with a glacier and some piping hot lava. All of this leads up to an attempt at a tear-jerking ending.
The movie is short, clocking in at roughly an hour and half. Of course, the price of admission was softened a bit when the trailer for “Star Wars Episode TwoAttack of the Clones” rounded out a long series of trailers. The pace of the movie zips along at a much faster pace.
The film makes a valiant attempt at trying to please more than one audience. It’s long enough to hold a child’s attention span while giving parents enough to keep them interested. For its first foray into computer animation, Fox has done a decent job. Grade: B+
