Customer Reviews

Ice Age (2-Disc Special Edition)

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I got indignant when one of my favorite reviewers panned this film and decided to rise to its defense. Not only does this film work brilliantly as an allegory about bridging ethnic and cultural divides, but it is by turns hilarious and deeply touching. The story follows a group of migrating prehistoric mammals (a saber-toothed tiger which is a predator; and a sloth and woolly mammoth, which are prey species) who find a lost human infant and ultimately make the difficult and dangerous decision to reunite it with its human tribe. The personalities of all three are well developed, and their nonstop bickering is a riot. Naturally, there are many internal divisions, and the saber-toothed tiger is secretly plotting to ambush the group, but in the end the shared experience of bonding with the infant unites them. There is a highly entertaining scene where the group travels through an ice cave in which is embedded hilarious references to other life forms including extraterrestrials. There is a very touching scene in which the mammoth contemplates human pictographs of hunters killing a family of mammoths with spears, only to be comforted by the human infant in his care. The animation, especially the facial expressions for the animals, and of course the ill-fated squirrel whose attempts to gather and store nuts form a cruelly funny sub-theme, is incredibly clever. The film is just brimming with sly humor, tenderness, and witty sight-gags; I've probably seen it five times and haven't gotten bored yet.

Many cartoons have too many characters that are overly cutesy to be loved by anyone other than a child. Others have themes that are perhaps too mature for anybody other than adults to understand or enjoy. There are few, a precious few, that manage to be cutesy, while also having more mature characters that aren't cutesy at all, but more on the serious side. A combination like this is likely to appeal to both the young, middle-aged, and old. "Ice Age" is one of the latter.

It doesn't seem likely, but somehow, a herd consisting of a mammoth, a sloth, and a tiger have all come together as one to take a baby human back to its family, or have they? Tigers eat mammoths, and possibly humans as well. Humans hunt mammoths because they love their ivory tusks. How can it possibly work out in the end??

As said, "Ice Age" succeeds in having characters that are cutesy and funny, while also having more serious minded characters. Manny the mammoth couldn't be much more serious. He doesn't laugh much at all, and he thinks the silly, airheaded antics of the hilarious Sid the sloth are just that. Silly. Diego the sabretooth tiger tries to play nice, but he isn't half as nice as he seems...or is he? Scrat the squirrel doesn't really play into the story at all, other than to just pop out of nowhere to chase a precious acorn around as if he couldn't live without it; he never once ceases to be amusing with his screams and the troubles he always seems to run into.

As you're watching the movie, you'll be laughing your blank off while you also get into the plot and root for the good guys. This is because each and every one of the characters are interesting, entertaining, etc. You'll be amazed by the spectacular animation, especially when it comes to the characters; they really seem to come alive. Not to mention that many parts of the landscape, such as the drowning waterfalls, are so well animated that they appear realistic, to say the least. "Ice Age" is an all-around great movie. As much as I liked other films that are somewhat like it, such as "Toy Story" and "Dinosaur", I'd have to say that I like "Ice Age" the best so far; I have yet to see "Shrek" or "Monsters, Inc."

Usually, when I finish watching a DVD, no matter how good or bad the movie was, I keep procrastinating when it comes to checking out the special features. This wasn't the case with "Ice Age." Upon finishing the movie and reading about the special features on the back of the case, I couldn't wait to check out the boat loads of features on the second disc. You'll see what I mean when you watch the movie; you'll want to see more of that mysterious little squirrel, Scrat. He has his own animated short, "Scrat's Missing Adventure". Along with this, there are six deleted scenes, an award-winning animated film: "Bunny" (very nice!), the HBO Behind the Scenes special of "Ice Age", scene-specific commentary by John Leguizamo as Sid, etc. You can also see how the characters were animated, play a few games (i.e., find where Scrat is hiding, find the best match, etc.), and much more.

To get down to the nitty gritty, the "Ice Age" DVD is worth buying just for the movie by itself, but with the tons of special features that are included, it's an even better value. It's the must-have animated film of the year.

Get ready to "chill-out" with the fun-filled 2002 animated family hit "Ice Age". During the great migration, a moody mammoth (Ray Romano, "Everybody Loves Raymond"), a dim-witted sloth (John Leguizamo, "Moulin Rouge") and a devilish sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary, "Rescue Me") become the unlikely guardians of a lost human child. Together, they will embark on a journey across icy glaciers and countless dangers to return the child to his tribe. Created by Blue Sky Studios, "Ice Age" is a remarkably entertaining family spectacle that ranks as one of the highest grossing films of 2002. The story is fast-paced, heartfelt and very funny. The computer-animated feature film contains some hilarious moments and memorable characters. The CGI animation is stunning with impressive landscapes. Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo deliver some fine comic performances. "Ice Age" also features the voice talents of Cedric the Entertainer, Stephen Root, Diedrich Bader, Alan Tudyk and Jack Black.

"Ice Age" Special Edition succeeds any previous Fox DVD. The animated smash hit is presented in both full screen and widescreen formats. The DVD contains a flawless picture quality with excellent sharpness and rich color detail. Its Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is very engaging and well balanced. The interactive DVD menus are pretty nice. This 2-Disc DVD contains a wide range of supplemental material including a comprehensive audio commentary with directors Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge, six deleted scenes, several behind-the-scene featurettes (The Making of "Ice Age" & Under the Ice), theatrical trailers and the new animated short "Scrat's Missing Adventure". With its excellent presentation and great supplements, "Ice Age" Special Edition gets a definite "A-".

"Ice Age" emerges as one of the better animated films of recent years, cleverly designed and even more cleverly written. Scenarists Michael Berg, Michael J. Wilson and Peter Ackerman have devised a story set 20,000 years ago about an unlikely trio of companions who find themselves making a long trek through a harsh environment in an effort, ostensibly, to return a baby human to the tribe from which he has become separated. The triumvirate is made up of a deadpan, cynical mammoth, a wisecracking, over-the-top sloth (whose mile-a-minute mouth more than makes up for his legendary slowness) and a malevolent saber-tooth tiger, who learns a thing or two about friendship and teamwork before the adventure is over.

"Ice Age" is at its most amusing in those scenes in which the characters make prescient jokes about their own place in the evolutionary scheme of things. One particularly clever scene involves the three travelers discovering what looks like an underground museum of natural history encased in ice, replete with ancient creatures caught in naturally occurring, chain-of-life exhibits. Like most animated films set in the past, "Ice Age" derives much of its humor through the use of anachronism. We chuckle to hear these creatures applying modern, scientific knowledge to the pre-scientific era in which they are living.

The animators and designers have done a beautiful job in achieving just the right look for this tale. The backgrounds have a colorful, clean, streamlined look to them, and the animals themselves, in their appearance and design, provide a witty commentary on evolutionary history. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary do superb voiceover work, each achieving just the right tone for the character he has been assigned to play. One could wish, perhaps, for a bit less sentimentality at the end, but that is a minor quibble in a film that works so well for both children and adults. The kids will revel in the cuteness of the animals and the clever action sequences, while adults will savor the sly knowingness of the evolutionary and historical in-jokes. Not bad in an era when most films can't find a way to please even ONE audience demographic.

I recently watched this movie with my 3 and a half year old. The parts that were mutually enjoyable were the traditional slapstick animation moments. They are almost too exciting for someone so young, and I caught her covering her eyes once when an animated character was trying to outrun an avalanche.

There are very few movies for little ones that don't feature explicit scenes of violence and death. In this movie there are some fight scenes, but no creature dies on screen. After seeing Atlantis,and the death toll extracted before the closing credits, this is a refreshing change.

I agree with reviews about the lack of smoothness in the animation of this film. This is especially evident with the Neanderthal characters. I did think that the various textures of snow, ice, mud and fur were well rendered.

The story line plods along to a predictable conclusion. This is a family film that will be more enjoyable for the smallest viewers in your household than for the adults. But, adults have so many entertainment choices, that it's nice to a movie something that can be shared. Younger viewers will be able to follow what is going on without a lot of explanation from adults.

First, after reading some of the previous reviews, I have to comment that Ice Age is not a Pixar movie. Not that I care terribly but it seemed worth mentioning.
As to the movie itself, I have two small boys (4 and 6) who enjoy the movie thoroughly. The slapstick and silly humor are certainly not out of their reach. As with most of these type of films, there is an effort to make it entertaining for the parents and I think they succeeded here. I find myself chuckling during many parts of the story and am not dissapointed when the boys pick this as our "Family Movie Night" film choice.
On the topic of animation quality, while this clearly isn't up to the level of the Pixar movies, who cares? I have not yet had either of my sons make a comment on the "lack of realistic fur movement" on any of the animated, talking, extinct, fake animals. I wish Disney would look at this and their old animated movies and remember that it is the story, not the animation technique that makes a movie. Otherwise, nobody would watch the Simpsons!

Ice Age continues the recent tradition of creating animated films for both children and adults. While not perfect, it is full of laughs and beautiful computer animation.

The story of a group of animals during the ice age who find a human child and bring it back to the human settlement seems to be an afterthought in the film. It's obvious that the characters and environment were developed first and the film makers then searched for a story to fit them. But that's no big deal, because the characters are what really drive this film. Most notable is John Leguizamo's voiced Sid, a hilariously clumsy and simple minded sloth. While the mammoth (Ray Romano) and saber toothed tiger (Denis Leary) are also entertaining, the other show stopper is the non-speaking squirrel Scrat. Unfortunately he never really becomes a part of the group and only occasionally meets up with the others, limiting his antics. But they're still a blast to see.

The animation, while nice to look at, isn't quite as stunning as other recent developments such as Monster's Inc. But it more then suffices here, creating beautiful landscapes of the ice age.

Still, the humor is truly what carries this movie. While this won't go down in the books as a computer animated classic such as Toy Story, it does provide some solid entertainment for children and adults alike.

A very fun and funny movie, the kind an adult can watch along with the kids and not feel bored. Bits of hidden humor and lots of action make this movie a good one to own. I enjoyed the little interactions between the characters as they made there trek and thought that the voice overs were very well done.
I hesitate to rate this as high as Shrek, but I think it was comparable to Monsters Inc., either way, if you enjoyed either of these other two, you'll enjoy this one. A strong recommendation.

While Ice Age does have adult themes running through it (and a few adult jokes), it doesn't have the broad appeal that you find with Shrek, Toy Story, or Monsters, Inc. But it is a good movie to sit down with the whole family to watch. There's little violence and no sexual content. The animation is a little cartoony--but the animators aren't shooting for realistic here, they are looking for more of a 'Shrek' type look. It has its charm. It does have a strong cast. I'd never have pictured Ray Romano as a mammoth, but his dead pan delivery does fit well with the personality of a gigantic mammoth. Dennis Leary plays the saber-tooth tiger, but holding Leary back to a PG rating takes away from his appeal. Still, he does a fairly good job with what he has, and the funniest moments in the movie come from his interaction with John Leguizamo, who is brilliant as the sloth. Cedric the Entertainer, Jack Black, and Gorin Visjnic (casting him as the leader of the tigers was a stroke of genius, I wish there had been more scenes featuring him) have small supporting roles. The dvd contains all kinds of extras, but it is the short animation 'Bunny' that really makes this dvd worth buying (and the cave painting scene in the movie). You can see the animators genius there. This isn't a dvd you want to rush out to buy, but one you might want to put on your list of dvds to get.

You cannot tell me that ICE AGE did not make you laugh until your ribs were sore. While Ray Ramano may be the focal point as Manny the Mammoth, it is the one and only John Leguizamo, providing the voice of the lisping, comical sloth Sid, who steals the movie.

From the moment Sid angers two rhinos and hides behind Manny for protection, there is a spectacular laugh almost everyone thirty seconds, literally, and scenes such Sid changing a babies diaper, a football game with some pesky dodo's, and a rollercoaster ride through an icy cave with almost require you to have an oxygen tank nearby from all the laughter.