Rating: 
Summary: Could be a Best Animated Feature contender!
Review: "Ice Age" (2002)Last year I saw a really good trailer. It involved a rat-looking mousey-type animal that had a certain affection for acorns. It turned out that film was called Ice Age. Since seeing that fabulous trailer I was highly anticipating this movie. I must say I had my doubts about this film at the beginning, but when the plot really started to get interesting, I found it hard to look away from this film. And that's not only because the movie had great animation either. If you turn your head away from this movie your likely to miss out on some of its most brilliant jokes. Most of the jokes are right out there and hard to miss out on, but a few involving the animal named the scrat (acorn-loving thing) come very fast and you might miss out on a hilarious little number if you're looking away. A few of my favourites are the acorn and fire scene, his little "laugh" at the end and him flying across a glacier. Good stuff! Most aspects of the film are great. The film is witty, stunning to look at, surprisingly poignant, engaging, has a good setting and the most fantastic ideas for an animated picture since Shrek last year. The movie had drawbacks at the start because John Leguizamo's character was irritating me. Then I realised that's what Sloth's were like, and I accepted his annoyingness as a development of a character and personality trait. Something that never went away is the humans' bad animation. Their faces looked like cardboard. I suppose I can half-excuse that since the animators have put so much effort into the backgrounds, set design and animal drawings. The story isn't all that original, in fact it is very reminiscent of Monsters, Inc., Shrek and sometimes even The Lion King, but the film was able to work new jokes and concepts into a familiar story line so I was always entertained. The movie is written extremely well and it always keeps moving. Ice Age is never boring or dull, or cheesy, and come on, this is an animated film! The voices for the movie are very well picked. The casting directors obviously chose the actors on how they would be able to relate and suit their characters' appearance and movements. Ray Romano is perfect as the mammoth; he has exactly the right voice for the film. John Leguizamo is unrecognisable and hilarious in the voice of the sloth. I also enjoyed Denis Leary who played sabertooth Diego. He had the right deep voice and menacing sounds in his vocals to bring across the terror of the sabertooth but also the softness in his heart that makes Diego such an interesting and unpredictable character. Like Shrek, I also felt a lot for the characters. I know these are just cartoons, but I was really enthralled by Manfred's (Romano) negativity to family, and I wanted to find out why. When I did find out I was nearly in tears (there is also another strong dramatic scene near the end where I was in tears). Diego (Leary) gets caught up when he can't decide to go with his herd or go with his type - and I know how that feels. Maybe I've never had to make a decision like this, but I can remember several situations when I felt the guilty and betrayal that Diego does when he starts getting friendly with his new friends, who he is secretly leading to danger. Thankfully there are no typical musical interludes in the film where the characters burst into song. However, the movie has good use of a song called "On My Way" (also used in Matilda) and the Thomas Newman score is engaging, and he uses he violin and piano particularly well to capture the excitement, drama and subtlety of the film. Ice Age is hilarious, interesting, excellently put together and stunningly edited. The characters are wonderful creations (especially the scrat - I won't forget this dude!) and the film is paced well, especially the jokes, that are timed carefully and with skill. This is the first 2002 movie I've seen, and I can safely say it was a brilliant way to start the year! MY GRADE: A-
Rating:
Summary: Laugh Out Loud
Review: I have twin 16 year old daughters who are mildly retarded and legally blind. So I am never really sure how much of the movie they actualy see and understand.With Ice Age I had none of these problems. Because much of the humor is verbal both my girls spent most of the movie laughing out loud. As did I. I have had to sit through some really terrible movies(Josie and the Pussycats) that my girls have wanted to see. Thankfully Ice Age was a pleasure for me to watch and a joy to listen to my daughters laughter.
Rating: 
Summary: Very funny
Review: I enjoyed this movie. Actually, I think I enjoyed it a bit more than my kids did. You can't go wrong with Ray Romano. The animantion was wonderful. I must admit that I thought this was an intense film for children under the age of six. The scenes with the tigers were frightening at times. It reminded me of a few scenes from the Lion King that scared my children at the time. But Ice Age's intensity lasts much longer. I wish that I could have taken a poll for all the little kids that would have bad dreams about the tigers after they saw Ice Age. All in all, I enjoyed Ice Age and my kids (8+) didn't have bad dreams.
Rating:
Summary: ...comic gem
Review: Don't listen to anyone who tells you that this movie is derivative of 'Shrek' (like that movie invented computer animation or didn't recycle other films on it's own) and is too boring. They must have been watching the other 'Ice Age' because I've seen it twice now(!) and the audience loved it both times. I'm a movie buff and I adore animation and this is simply one of the funniest and sweetest cartoons I've seen in a long time. The opening sequence, featuring a jittery little squirrel looking for a hiding place for it's acorn, is flat-out the single most hysterical sequence I've ever seen in live action OR animated film. I've downloaded the teaser trailer which features this sequence in it's entirety and have watched it numerous times and it still drives me to hysterics. To see for yourself (in case you're still wondering if you should see the film or not) check it out ... This film is great for kids, because it teaches how to love and respect your fellow humans - er - prehistoric beasts and fun for adults because of the never-ending stream of one liners and site gags. You'll LOVE IT!!!
Rating:
Summary: Cracking the groud cracks me up!
Review: Ice Age is a very movie that has something for everyone. All the animals except the saber-tooth squirrel, which was a very funny character indeed, all have fossil evidence (egsample: Brontotheirs a.k.a. rhinos, Moritherium, Glyptodonts, etc.). The relationship between Manfred the mammoth and Sid the sloth was like that between that of Shrek and Donkey, the Deago the saber-tooth cat was alot like Muffasa with a happier ending, the story was alot like Tarzan, and the cave painting scene reminded me of Prince of Egypt. The Tae Kwan Dodo scene made me laugh hillariously, the evolution of the sloth, though inacurate, was amazingly funny, and the ending scene was hillarious. Over all, this is one good movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Cliche mania!!!
Review: Shrek + Monster's Inc + Land before time, with same relationships, twists and jokes. And why do the animals help the humans when all the humans are doing is hunting them? (The sabretooths were right to want revnge - most of their pack were killed for furs) Sid seemed too much like the Jarjar Binks of the movie ('why doesn't someone stomp him?') and the highlight were the acorn scenes (especially the last one)
Rating: 
Summary: Not for younger (under 7 or so) kids
Review: Given the fact that it's a cartoon, with lots of cute looking animals, and a funny (and misleading) trailer, you would probably think that Ice Age is a movie that's good for children of all ages. Sadly, however, you would be wrong. The movie starts out really well (although the pace is plodding, which bothered me). Thought the bits of the animals migrating were good. Some funny stuff, and they looked realistic. The movie looks like it is going to be fun and relaxing. However, this soon proves not to be the case. There is some mild violence in the movie. Some of it was unnecessary, in my opinion. Some of the fight scenes went on too long. I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I can't say more on this. Aside from the fact that I found the tone of this movie entirely too dark, I also didn't find many of the performances particularly inspiring. Ray Romano, in the pivotal role of Manny, just didn't work for me in his role. He was far to monotone and dull. He didn't seem sad or depressed, which he should have (this involves another spoiler -- you'll see), he just seemed bored. Leguiziamo's shtick wore thin early on. He doesn't have the pizzazz or style of a Nathan Lane or Robin Williams (who were brilliant in the Lion King and Aladdin, respectively). Goodman and Crystal they ain't. Even I wanted to smack Sid, so I couldn't quite buy the bonding between the three animals. Visnjic was almost as good as Jeremy Irons in the Lion King (he played Scar), but he didn't have the screen time or the script to make it work. And it is a crime that someone as funny as Jack Black didn't have more to do. The best part of this movie was the computer graphics. Some of the visuals were stunning. The technical people were able to create realistic avalanches, erupting volcanoes, and a range of other natural settings that were absolutely gorgeous and as realistic as anything I've seen in any other movie of this genre. It's too bad that the characters themselves weren't better drawn. The lions all looked alike to me. The facial expressions on the three main animal characters weren't well done, either, at least compared to Monster's Inc. Overall, this movie is one I would recommend to you if you are a fan of Leary, Leguiziamo, or Ramano. The plot is predictable; it's basically a buddy movie ala Monster's Inc, with three leads instead of two. And the two main ones aren't nearly as interesting or charasmatic as they ought to be, so I didn't particularly invest in them. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under the age of around 8. If your 5-9 year old is begging to see the film, I'd see it myself first to preview it so you can judge whether the child can handle it. You'll also want to discuss the themes in the movie, because some of them are complex enough that they could go over their heads if they are part of the under 10 crowd.
Rating:
Summary: Ice Age? No, More Like Dull Age
Review: You want to no what Ice Age was? It was one of those old time cartoons were animals are clobbering animals. Sure, you might find me a complete jerk but if you ask me, the violence was a bit too much.
The animals looked dumb. The squirrel was no squirrel. The sloth had these weird eyes and ran. Sloth's can't go fast. And the ending was a bit in the fantasy ballpark. The story plot didn't quite make it. Still, I think you should watch it so you no what people are talking about.
Rating:
Summary: Highly derivative and average at best
Review: This movie is a mix of Shrek, Monsters Inc. and no parts of this story are original or inspired. I found the overall movie quite bland, and the 3 stars all go to the scrat scenes. Now that's the best part of the movie -- by far. Every 5-10 minutes or so I would start wishing for a scrat/acorn scene to pick up the stagnant pace. And pick up the pace he did. Wait till it comes on video or the dollar theater.
Rating:
Summary: Although this movie is kind a Shrek ...
Review: Although this movie is kind a Shrek ... it's still great. Why is it a Shrek ...? Think the Mammoth and the Sloth in the beggining: Sloth: We make a great pair! We can migrate anywhere! Mammoth: Go bother someone else! I'm not traveling with you! Sloth: But my friends left without me! Now let's remember Shrek: Donkey: Man we make a great team! You and me, we can go places! It's great being free! Shrek: Oh, then why not go celebrate your freedom with your friends? Hmmmm? Donkey: But I don't have any friends... Ice Age has the same plot elements of Shrek, but it does have enough jokes and warm momments to stand on its own. Do I like this more than Shrek? Nope. I still think Shrek is way better than Monsters, Inc. and Ice Age. However this is better than Monsters, Inc. I will make another review for the DVD release. ...
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