Customer Reviews

Ice Age

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Here's why:

First, a great character driven story with a positive message. The heroes in this story don't start out as heroes at all. Sid is an annoying and rather pathetic sloth who is left behind when all his friends migrate. Manfred is a mammoth with "issues" who at the beginning is walking the wrong way for some reason. Why? Does the scene with the moving cave drawings explain this? Was his wife and offspring killed, and was he walking the wrong way to end his own life? Diego the sabertooth tiger is an order following killer on a mission.

Each of these characters grow beyond themselves to save a human baby. Sid assumes responsiblity and develops courage. Diego learns to think for himself and do the right thing. Manfred overcomes his grief and self-centerdness and endures all kinds of trials to save a baby who may grow up to be a hunter of mammoths. This is a story how anyone, regardless of how non-heroic they may be, can rise above themselves and do what is right when they have to.

Second, this DVD lets you watch the movie five different ways: Widescreen, Fullscreen, "Nutty Movie" mode where you can watch the deleted scenes as if they'd been spliced back into the movie, commentary mode, and "extreme cool" mode where you watch the movie in a window while documentary material plays in another window. How cool is that?

Third, the deleted scenes are actually very interesting. They have their own commentary too. Sylvia is a great character (a sloth girlfriend of Sid's) who was going to be in the movie but was cut out and replaced. The commentary tells why.

Fourth, the two shorts are great. Gone Nutty is more of Scrat chasing acorns, and Bunny is a brilliant short about an elderly female rabbit's last minutes of this life and the transition to the next.

And there's a lot more. It make take until the next ice age for me to get through all the stuff on this DVD!

Another re-release for "Ice Age" (this is the third counting the single disc edition of the film) to coincide with the sequel, this edition essentially is the previous two disc edition with some minor features added that don't make it any more worthwhile to pick up. The DVD ROM printables and "Scrat's Frozen Facts" appear to be the newest features on this set. Most of the featurettes are recycled from the previous edition.

No issue with the transfer per se since it is a digital cartoon this edition appears to be from the same source as the previous edition. Should you upgrade? Not if you have the previous two disc edition but if you have the single disc edition and you want the extras, this is the way to go. Sound is crystal clear with nice use of 5.1 effects.

The DVD ROM printables and "Scrat's Frozen Fun Facts" an interactive feature that can be accessed during the film appear to be the newest features on this set. The latter has behind-the-scenes clips you the film in various stages of production while also including comments from experts on natural history discussing the what scientist believe the world was like then. Most of the featurettes are recycled from the previous edition. Otherwise the commentary tracks, deleted scenes and just about everything else is imported from the previous two disc edition of the film. There's also theater money that can be presented for "Ice Age 2".

If you purchased the previous two disc set of this movie, I'd take a pass on this one. There's no improvement in this edition vs. the earlier two disc set in my mind.

If you are reading this review, you are probably wondering, "Should I invest good movie into purchasing this movie on blu-ray?"

This movie is considerably older than many blu-ray releases, and it is not quite as sharp as its sequel "Meltdown", however, that said, this is an excellent release and well worth owning if you like animated family friendly blu-ray movies. The picture is very clear with very little grain, the picture is sharp, and the sound is crisp. The age of the film does show though - the fur on the mammoth isn't quite as sharp, and there is a little bit of noticeable grain, but all things considered, they did a great job with the transfer. Like "Meltdown" there are no bars above or below the screen on a widescreen television. We viewed the movie on a 37" 1080p LCD flatpanel TV with a PS3, 60GB blu-ray player, connected by a HDMI cable. Sound is 5.1 digital.

This was a WONDERFUL movie - I watched it alone (I'm 67 years old) and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. The characters were believable, funny and absolutely wonderful - great for a family to watch together - kids will love it - good life lessons to be learned from it too - marvelous movie - wish they were all so funny and entertaining.

This is my grandson's all time favorite movie. He just can't get enough and Scrat is just as rascally addorable as he is. Can't wait for #2 to premier later this month! Excellent!

Several previous grumpy reviewers to the contrary notwithstanding, I loved this movie. I am not a big fan of the current animated productions but this one was special--it was funny, the characters were cute and lovable and FUNNY, even the sneaky Diego (voice by Denis Leary). I never understood what all the whoop-la was about with Shrek, Toy Story, Antz, etc. but this one was endearing. All the voices were well done and appropriate--Ray Romano (Manny the mammoth) and John Leguizamo(Syd the sloth) were wry and comic and the animals looked like animals, not stick figures or wooden dolls. The acorn-obsessed squirrel who moved in and out of the story was also very funny and the whole movie left you feeling good, as it should.

I had my choice, Life as a House, or Ice Age. It was a long flight from Germany to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and I am glad I chose Ice Age. This poor little bit of a sloth gets left behind when the ice age is coming. He is a cute, adorable character, who finally hooks up with a wooly Mammoth. The mammoth, a grumpy old thing, wants nothing to do with the little sloth, but ends up letting him trail along if for no other reason than that he can't seem to get rid of him. Enter another plot. An indian family, with a baby, stalked by lions who want to eat the baby because the Indian family has killed so many of their own for food. It gets hairy here, the sloth, a cunning lion, the mammoth, become a team, determined to return the infant baby they have found to it's parents. Unbeknownst to the sloth and the mammoth, the lion has his own agenda. A delightful tale, and not just for kids. It made my flight delightful.

This may not matter to anyone else but I wanted to point out this DVD does not contain the short feature "Gone Nutty" from the beginning as the full length video does. I have Ice Age on VHS and have shown that feature many times to my Children's Sunday School class to illustrate the story of storing up treasures in heaven where moths and rust can't destroy. I wanted to upgrade and buy it on DVD (finally) and was disappointed when I got the DVD to find the short feature was not included in this DVD. The DVD was in good shape, good price, and if all you want is Ice Age (which most people probaby do) then this is a good buy. If you are looking for the short feature then don't buy this Single Disc Edition DVD.

ICE AGE looks and sounds fantastic on Blu-ray. I just wish that Fox would have ported over ALL the supplemental material that was on the 2 disc DVD edition. Otherwise, a great addition to your library.

An outstanding animated movie, Ice Age, brings to the screen the story of an unlikely group of prehistoric creatures that band together because of a human baby, with all the ups and downs that that entails!
It is a film about human relations, hope and second chances, but most importantly about trust, love, friendship, and inner strength.
All the actors, without exceptions, give it their 100% and it really shows (the animation does come ALIVE)! Very well written and very well presented, the movie is without a doubt guaranteed to provide more than just a few laughs, not to mention a few tears! The film is simple enough, but does a great job of describing people's every day lives and the problems they face. It just goes to show that simplicity is often far better than complexity, when trying to present issues of a human nature.
The setting, the plot, the dialogues, the HUMOR (!!!) and the music are all wonderful!
In short, Ice Age is a movie definitely worth watching and one to seriously consider adding to your movie collection! BRING ON THE SEQUEL!