Not having watched an animated film in a long while, I decided I would finally. I remembered I had seen Ice Age and liked it. And now the third installment of the franchise was out and doing well. Why not give it a try? And by no means did I regret my decision. It was an immensely funny, even suspenseful treat for an animated movie, if you will.
MAIN CHARACTERS:
The Unlikely Friends
Manny, the mammoth… Ray Romano
Ellie, Manny’s mate… Queen Latifah
Diego, the Saber-Toothed tiger… Dennis Leary
Sid, the sloth… John Leguizamo
Crash & Eddie, twin opposums … Sean William Scott & Josh Peck
The Rest
Buck, the weasel…Simon Pegg
Scrat, the Saber-Toothed squirrel… Chris Wedge
Momma T-Rex & her 3 Dino yearlings
Rudy
THE BASIC PLOT
The unlikely group of friends in the form of Manny, Ellie, Diego, Sid, Crash & Eddie are all experiencing contrasting times. Ellie is pregnant and is very cool about it. Manny, the expectant father is very tense about Ellie’s delivery and is preparing all the time to be a good father. In fact, he’s way way more worried than the mother herself. Diego, once the best hunter of his pack, is facing a bit of an identity crisis and feels he has lost his edge and needs some more adventure alone rather than just hanging around his friends. Sid is inspired by Manny’s situation and wants to be a good parent himself. Crash and Eddie are least bothered about all of it.
On this note, all of them have a bit of a fall out. Diego sets out for his great adventure, Ellie and Manny are busy preparing for their baby, Sid accidentally finding 3 T-Rex eggs finds himself adopting them as his own. But Momma T-Rex is not happy about it and comes looking for her babies. Sid puts up an obstinate resistance and Momma T-Rex dismissively takes him along with her newly hatched babies who think Sid is their mother.
Seeing their friend in grave danger, Sid’s friends put their differences aside to come together to try and rescue their dear, irritating friend for which they need to venture into an unknown territory where dinosaurs still exist. The main threat here is not Momma T-Rex though. It’s Rudy a bigger, meaner dinosaur. But the most unexpected thing is that they have an unlikely hero in the form of an audacious, inspirational tiny weasel with a buccaneer like demeanor, Buck. He is the true king of these lands teeming with dinosaurs. And that, is what the drama in this movie is all about. How the rest unfolds, would be best for you to find out though.
*NOTABLE FEATURES OF THE MOVIE
1. I think one of the main strengths of all the Ice Age movies is the fascination that is built up with the audiences owing to the coming together of such unlikely friends as a mammoth, saber-toothed tiger, sloth and opposums. Can’t get more conspicuous than that, surely!
2. The main strength of this movie is the great humour. It is at its strongest at the nascent stages and is periodically injected throughout the movie, never letting it become too tense, even in the scenarios generally portrayed as tense! Makes for interesting viewing. Great work by the writer and director.
3. The most touching moments unexpectedly and refreshingly are provided by the T-Rexes in the movie. I think this is the first time I’ve seen the T-Rex portrayed in a good light rather than the nasty disposition that is generally associated with it. First the really warm moments conveyed by the junior T-Rexes with Sid, the scenes of compassion depicted by Momma T-Rex with Sid, who after initial reluctance is accepted into the T-Rex family and her key role in dealing with Rudy toward the end.
4. John Leguizamo shines with his cranky, stubborn character of Sid who is determined to be a good parent to his adoptedbaby T-Rexes.He is involved in most of the funny moments, from the fooling around with the T-Rex eggs, his repeated mess ups and his interesting chemistry withMomma T-Rex. Their chemistry is in a way similar to that of grumpy Walt Kowalski(Momma T-Rex) and the kid(Sid) in Gran Torino.
5.Simon Pegg as Buck is a great addition to this franchise. He gives us a self-assured, pragmatic and skillful hero who gives the audience confidence in him as well while he fends off dinosaurs, giant carnivorous plants and other creatures. That takes a lot of doing considering he's just a weasel up against much more intimidating characters and it has been delineated very well here.
6.Rudyis indeed very rude and makes for a fine villain. He is helped by the fact that he is portrayed as a dark, gigantic character, way bigger than the T-Rex who is elusive and we only get to see him in the flesh very late in the movie. What was controversial though was that although Rudyseemed to be a Suchomimus, he was portrayed to be much bigger than the T-Rex which is factually not the case. Neither are their habitats supposed to coincide, nor is a Suchomimus supposed to be that aggressive, primarily known as a fish-eater. But to hell with it, it is only an animated movie!
7. Actually, the rivalry between Rudy & Buck is portrayed somewhat similarly to the famous rivalry between The Joker and Batman in The Dark Knight. That wasn't difficult to see. Either of them spurs the other on to be more emphatic in their respective roles and each revels in their encounters with each other.
8.Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel gives us the usual distractions from the main plot, whenever the plot gets too serious to remind us that the film is primarily a comedy and then an adventure/fantasy. Here, he has a new dilemma. He has to choose between his tenacious pursuit of an acorn and his infatuation with another like him.
9. I have not seen the second film, but from what I’ve heard of it and my viewing of the other 2, the first still had the strongest plot. Here, the plot is not extraordinary although it has its unique elements.
10. The best moments for me were Sid saying to Momma T-Rex, “You’re a real softie, you know that?” and Sid trying to explain to her why the baby T-Rexes needed to be on a vegetarian diet. Also the Top Gun like sequence with Buck as maverick on avian dinosaurs instead of planes was both funny and cool.
Overall, a very entertaining flick and well worth your money and time! I strongly recommend it to people of all ages for a weekend watch in theaters.
