Movie Review: Ice Age

Even the scenes of animated actors can end up on the cutting room floor!

Ice Age would-be playboy Sid the Sloth had two perky girlfriends in an early version of the film but their antics weren't kid-friendly enough so Sylvia the Sloth was cut from the film. There was even a "Save Sylvia" campaign. She wins in the end however, since her plastic likeness lives on as a Burger King toy.

A tiny "Skrat," sort of a squirrel-rat combo, attempts to bury an acorn in the frozen Ice Age ground thus starting a huge avalanche. Meanwhile, a great southern migration is going on among the animals. Manny the Mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano) decides to drift north instead and runs into Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) who got left behind by his migrating family. When the two find abandoned human baby Roshon, Sid and reluctant Manny start a trek to reunite the kid with his tribe. They are joined by Diego, a sneaky saber-toothed tiger who, at first, has his own dark plans for the baby.

I don't know why, but animated features lately all star a big, bumbling ogre/monster/mammoth and his funny but perky and slightly irritating sidekick, played by a donkey, monster or sloth. But hey, this comedy combination has worked as far back as Laurel and Hardy so don't mess with success.

Ice Age is Three Men and a Baby only the "men" are critters. This fun family film is chocked full of cleverly choreographed action sequences (a slide through an ice cave is terrific fun). Dialogue isn't as funny as the physical jokes, however, but do we like Manny, Sid and even the shady Diego? Sure. I was very impressed with a scene using animated cave paintings to illustrate a personal loss suffered by Manny; a great way to get the point across without freaking out younger kids.

There is a great life lesson lying underneath the ice here. A "family" can consist of all kinds and numbers of beings. The family created here isn't even in the same species! Love and friendship is universal (or in this case 20th Century Fox). And hey, I say put little Skrat in his own short film series! If we could watch the Coyote try to catch the Roadrunner through countless cartoons, we would love watching this prehistoric cutie try to bury his acorn/coconut, whatever time after time only to result in causing disaster on a "mammoth" scale. Do not leave the theater when the credits start rolling or you'll miss Skrat's final little adventure. The website is fun too.

For warm (cold?) and fuzzy family fun...4 out of 5 stars.