This heart-warming story of a mammoth, a sloth and a sabertooth tiger trying to return a lost human baby to his father may come from Fox but it pushes all the Disney buttons.
Our steadfast hero, Manfred the mammoth, and his annoying but endearing sidekick, Sid the sloth, along with the sly sabertooth Diego, journey through the frozen wastes, and along the way learn the true meaning of friendship.
The voice cast are well suited to their characters. Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond plays Manfred, whose gruff manner hides a heart of gold but it’s John Leguizamo as Sid and Dennis Leary as Diego who capture their characters best. Leguizamo manages to stay just the right side of annoying (most of the time anyway) while Leary has fun as the devious Diego and the pair are responsible for some of the films funniest moments.
The character designs could best be described as quirky and it’s nice to see a computer animated film that really embraces its cartoonish elements. In fact, while the main thrust of the film is very Disneyesque, complete with suitably saccharine ending, the real star of the film owes far more to a different animation style altogether.
The character I’m referring to is Scrat the squirrel whose relentless quest for a nut breaks up the cuteness with some Looney Tunes style madness. In fact the films biggest failing is that there isn’t enough Scrat.
Next week: Ice Age 2 and hopefully more Scrat.
Horror and Western film buff, Marvel comic geek, music lover and occasional gamer. 