Ice Age: The Meltdown

Going to Ice Age: The Meltdown, was a little like going to the library. I don’t mean it was quiet. Libraries aren’t really quiet anymore.

No, Ice Age 2 was like the library in the sense that the kids I saw it with were entertained just enough to keep them from playing their PSPs. The pace is rather glacial.

The movie, which only shows brief glimpses of the genius of Pixar or the ironic humor of the Shrek franchise, is not a dud by any stretch. There are two pretty good setpieces and the makings of a third. The movie also has a couple of touching moments. And the intercuts with Scrat, the hardest-working squirrel since Rocky, are all funny, even inspired.

The cast from the first movie returns with Ray Romano (Manny), John Leguizamo (Sid), and Denis Leary (Diego) in the lead roles. Queen Latifah adds some spice as Ellie, a Mammoth raised as a possum. But Ray Romano plays better when you can see his sad face. The kids probably didn’t care, but Leguizamo’s spitting lisp wore a little thin for me. Unfortunately, Leary’s Diego, the saber-tooth cat, has been declawed since the first movie.

There are the mandatory nods to other movies. I saw MI:2 and Matrix, for instance. And there are the mandatory fart jokes. Nothing else tells you the writers are phoning it in quite like fart jokes. There’s also an unfunny ‘mean kids’ segment that goes nowhere s l o w l y.

In short, Ice Age: The Meltdown is a perfect example of why we go to Dollar Movies. It’s not a great movie, but at a Dollar Movie price it’s a “good-enough” movie.

Ice Age: The Meltdown is rate PG for mild language and innuendo by the MPAA.

DollarMovieReview.com grades it as a B+.

The Dollar Movie Review Grading System: Movies targeted at young kids, that don’t gross out or offend too much get a full grade bonus. A C+ became a B+ in this movie, for instance. How much is too gross or offensive? I decide on the fly.