The original Ice Age is one of my favorite movies ever. I know, it's sappy. It's a kid's movie. The animation, while somewhat groundbreaking at the time, isn't so astonishing now. But it's just a good movie. A solid story, some good humor and a nice time.
The sequel? It matches up well in some areas (the humor), it's better in some areas (some of the animation), it's spotty in other areas (the rest of the animation) and the rest is pretty much a lesser film (the storyline).
The addition of Queen Latifah as Ellie the Mammoth (opossum) led to some great humorous bits, but the animation of Queen Latifah was priceless. While it wasn't exactly a mammoth, I'm sure, her personality came through and made the character shine. Meanwhile, the inimitable John Leguizamo did another great job with Sid the Sloth.
Unfortunately, the performances really slid to a stop there. Seann William Scott and Josh Peck brought some great life to the other opossum characters, but let's face it - the animation did much of the work there, and without Latifah's lines, it just wouldn't have been that good.
Ray Romano and Denis Leary both just trudged through their roles, exhibiting none of the warmth (Romano) or warmhearted ferocity (Leary) of the first go-round.
Throw all that together with too many helpings of the nut-crazy squirrel that now figures prominently in the storyline, instead of just being featured for some extra entertainment, and a healthy dose of Hollywood escapes that stretch the film to its breaking point, and an enjoyable romp through the Ice Age turns into a force-fed second helping. I'm going to pop the original in when I get the chance.
Rated PG for some mild language and innuendo.
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