9:59 PM
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Twentieth Century FoxD+ Horrible: The latest animated adventures of a motley mammalian menagerie from prehistoric times (Ray Romano and Queen Latifah as mammoths, Denis Leary as a sabertooth, and John Leguizamo as a sloth) are about as exciting as shoveling snow. Rumor has it that a fourth installment in the Ice Age saga is very possible, but I hope this is indeed a joke. Aside from the diverse voice cast, this installment is a far cry from the first Ice Age movie. Sorry, but the thrill is truly gone. Even with modern-day wise cracks, the adventures of unlikely buddies Manny (Romano), Diego (Leary) and Sid (Leguizamo), as well as occasional tag-along Scrat (Chris Wedge) with his acorn obsession, was just not enough to hold our attention. Part two introduced a couple of thawed-out aquatic dinosaurs and Latifah as a love interest for Manny, but still stayed within the same visual playground.
This time around, Sid discovers a lost world of dinosaurs under the ice, and is whisked away by an angry mother T-rex who is tremendously displeased that the buck-toothed goofball has tried to raise her babies by himself. In one scene, Sid tries to milk a male yak in order to feed them, an unintentional similarity to the dry well the filmmakers are similarly trying to pan. Alas, a rescue must be launched, but this new environment fails to measure up to even Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost. Even Scrat, the usually reliable slapstick comic relief, finds romance and loses his edge by movie's end.
What 3-D effects? Totally disappointing. The only saving grace is that kids who have a residual affection for the characters might still enjoy this. My kids were restless and distracted. Sorry, this was not worth the money and my time.
