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Ice Age: The Meltdown  Hot
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Written by Dave Anderson   
Monday, 06 November 2006


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Ice Age: The Meltdown

Grade

Content Grade: B+
Sound Grade: A
Extras Grade: A
Picture Grade:

Specs

Fox Home Entertainment 1.85:1 Widescreen English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround; French & Spanish Dolby Surround English & Spanish Subtitles 90 min., color, 2006 Rated PG

Review

I didn't expect much when I went to see the original "Ice Age." After all, how could any CG film following Pixar's canon and "Shrek" offer anything we haven't seen before? I was pleasantly surprised, though, because "Ice Age" had its own unique look, and for the most part, was very funny (even touching at times). And being the dad of a 3 year old who likes to sit through stuff over and over, I found myself more captivated by repeated viewings of "Ice Age" than "Shrek" or "The Incredibles." So I was actually looking forward to this inevitable follow-up. Being a sequel, I didn't expect it to be as good, and it isn't. But while the concept isn't quite as fresh, it's still more stylish and amusing than most of the cookie-cutter CG animated movies currently glutting theaters & video shelves.
The plot of this one is a bit more rambling, mostly focusing on Manny, Sid & Diego as the great freeze comes to an end, and now must cope with the threat of the whole valley flooding out. There's also a subplot in which Manny fears he's the last mammoth left. That is, until he meets Ellie (Queen Latifah), a female mammoth who was raised by opossums (and therefore thinks she's one, too). The hapless Scrat is back for yet-another round at procuring his elusive acorn. As in the first film, he steals the whole picture (I'd love to see something like "Scrat: The Movie.") The voice work by stars Ray Romano, Denis Lear & John Leguizamo is once again quite good, though Diego's character displays none of the menace he did in the first. The animation is also terrific, and still looks unique among the countless other CG animated films currently glutting video shelves. The story itself isn't as fresh or interesting, but at least the film itself moves quickly enough to overcome its occasionally lulls.

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Picture and Sound

We were given a recorded screener copy of the film, but since the film itself is made digitally, the overall picture was still pretty good, and great color and sharp lines. The audio sounds great, rendered in 5.1 Dolby Digital; quality-wise, it's as least as good as the transfer of the original "Ice Age."

Extras

There are two commentaries, one by the director, the other by seemingly everyone else who worked on the film. "No Time for Nuts" is another amusing Scrat short; this time he stumbles upon a time machine, and must travel through the centuries to retrieve is precious acorn. "The Animation Director's Chair" allows you to view certain scenes at various stages of their development. "Meet Crash & Eddie" & "Meet Ellie" shows how these new characters were created for the movie. "Lost Historical Student Films of the Ice Age Period" are a series of mini-documentaries about some of the animals featured in the movie; they cleverly use scratchy black & white scenes from "Ice Age" to resemble those old student films we all used to sit through in biology class. "Scrat's Piranha Smackdown Lab" lets you watch a scene with a selection of alternate sound effects; it doesn't really serve much purpose, but it IS pretty damn funny. Rounding out the extras is a look at an unfinished scene from the upcoming "Simpsons" movie.

Summary

The best praise you can give most sequels is, if you like the original, here's more of the same. The story for "Ice Age: The Meltdown" isn't as strong, but the animation is terrific, and there are a lot of funny moments (and any movie with a character like Scrat can't be completely worthless). In this case, more of the same is a pretty good thing. Highly recommended for any family movie night.

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