Ice Age: The Meltdown

Only Scrat, the wild tiny sabre-toothed squirrel, keeps his charm from the original “Ice Age.” Most of the other characters are back in “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” released in 2006, but their story is more of a struggle than a gallop. Notable, that they’re still around despite so many years must have passed since the last film. Roger Ebert admitted in his review, “But if I am going to require logical continuity in an animated comedy, I might as well admit that Daffy Duck is not real, and that I refuse to do.”

As “Ice Age: The Meltdown” begins, it is Scrat who sees the first danger sign of global chance. He’s in his usual dangerous chase after an acorn, which is all the more pleasing because where is the oak from which it fell? The squirrel climbs a vertical ice wall with his claws, almost falls, is saved when his tongue freezes to the ice, and then has to pull himself up by its own tongue, paw over paw. Don’t you hate it when that happens? Then a gush of water springs from the ice glacier, and another, and another. The glacier is melting.

Ebert noted, “If kids have been indifferent to global warming up until now, this "Ice Age" sequel will change that forever. Giant chucks of icebergs and the polar ice cap fall off into the sea, the water levels rise, a temperate climate begins to emerge, and the animal family of the earlier film begins a long trek to save itself from drowning. There is said to be a hollow log at the end of the valley, in which they can float to safety.”

Ebert continued, “The characters, as you will recall from the earlier film, have found a way to live together and not compete as species, although that leaves me a little vague about what the meat-eaters do at mealtimes.” After Scrat we reunite with Manny the mammoth, who’s afraid he is the last of his kind, Diego the tiger, Sid the sloth, Fast Tony the turtle (Jay Leno), Lone Gunslinger the vulture (Will Arnett), and finally, to the infinite delight of Manny, the meet Ellie the female mammoth (Queen Latifah). Together, Manny and Ellie can save the mammoth animals, if only Ellie can be convinced she is not a possum. Her illusion is encouraged by the possums Crash and Eddie, voiced by Seann William Scott and Josh Peck, who see having a mammoth with them is a great comfort.

Once the characters have been introduced and the ice cap has started to melt, the movie mainly has a long walk, scattered by adventures. Some of them are given by the convenient melting of two pre-ice age sea monsters, who are murderers that will evolve into sharks. Ebert noted, “There is also a perilous crossing of a melting ice bridge, which reminded of the collapsing bridge in "Lord of the Rings."”

Ebert continued, “The movie is nice to look at, the colors and details are elegant, the animals engaging, the action fast-moving, but I don't think older viewers will like it as much as the kids. The first "Ice Age" movie more or less exhausted these characters and their world, and the meltdown doesn't add much.” Most of the problem involves personalities: Can these species live together? Obviously they can, in a cartoon. If global warming just means they don’t have to freeze completely all the time and there are more acorns for Scrat, then what’s the problem?

In all honesty, as you might have guessed, this movie is a step down from the first one. It’s a fine flick, but it could have been better. If you want to watch it to see what I mean, then be my guest, but I don’t “highly” recommend it. Probably a little less than the how I recommended the first one, but that’s my opinion. See it for yourself and see what I mean.

Alright, well it’s time to continue this down slope because next week we will continue that with the continuation of “Ice Age Month.”