Culture
Review

Ice Age: The Meltdown

Christianity Today March 31, 2006

If any one movie proved that Disney no longer owned the animation market, it was Ice Age. Four years ago, Pixar had produced a few Disney-sponsored hits, and DreamWorks had cleverly positioned itself as the anti-Disney with movies like Shrek, but the animated world still basically revolved around the Mouse House in one way or another—until Ice Age came along. Produced by Blue Sky and distributed by 20th Century Fox, this prehistoric computer-animated cartoon didn’t exactly revolutionize the art of storytelling, but it did exist on its own terms, and what’s more, audiences flocked to it—and in greater numbers than they have gone to almost any of Disney’s homegrown efforts for the past decade.

Manny the woolly mammoth (Ray Romano) gets some troubling news from Fast Tony (Jay Leno)
Manny the woolly mammoth (Ray Romano) gets some troubling news from Fast Tony (Jay Leno)

With success like that, a sequel was inevitable, and here it is. Ice Age: The Meltdown offers up more of what made the first film a hit: the woolly mammoth Manfred (voice of Ray Romano) is still coping with the loss of his family, and possibly his entire species; he and his friends, Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the sabretooth tiger (Denis Leary), escape several perilous situations as they embark on a migration together; and the story is punctuated every now and then by hilarious scenes featuring Scrat, the mute squirrel-rat who steals the show with his oft-thwarted struggles to find, keep, and hide his nuts.

Some things are different, though. You may recall that the first film ended with Sid saying, as he and his new friends walked into the sunset, “You know, this whole Ice Age thing’s getting old. You know what I could go for? Global warming.” In the second film, Sid gets his wish; a giant, mountain-sized block of ice is melting, and when the wall of ice bursts—for some reason it has stayed frozen, and acts like a dam, even though everything behind it has turned to water—the valley in which the animals live will be flooded. And so the animals who live in that valley embark on an emergency migration to a “boat” that might save them. (It sounds, and looks a bit, like Noah’s Ark, but it’s actually a tree trunk.)

Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) isn't too thrilled with Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo)
Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) isn’t too thrilled with Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo)

There are no Neanderthals or human beings this time, and without them and their complicated relationship to the animals, the second film lacks the themes of revenge and forgiveness that made the first film so unexpectedly moving. Indeed, there are no villains of any sort here, not even among the animals—unless you count a couple of sea monsters who emerge from the thawed ice, or the vultures who never directly hurt anybody, but who gloat over how they can’t wait to feast on the other animals once they’ve drowned.

Plus, because there is no longer any serious friction between the three main characters—Manfred no longer minds the company, and Diego no longer threatens to eat anyone (which raises the question, exactly what does this natural carnivore live on, now?)—the new film has to find other ways to make them funny and to give them some sort of character growth. The results are rather lame in Diego’s case; we learn that this supposedly tough tiger has an embarrassing phobia, so of course, a situation arises later on which requires him to conquer his fear, and that’s that. Things aren’t much better where Sid is concerned, though his story at least takes some amusing turns, when he encounters a tribe of sloths who give him the respect that he wants, just not perhaps in the way that he would want it.

Ellie (Queen Latifah) gives possums Crash and Eddie (Seann William Scott Josh Peck) a ride
Ellie (Queen Latifah) gives possums Crash and Eddie (Seann William Scott Josh Peck) a ride

Then there is lonely Manfred, who bumps into a woolly she-mammoth named Ellie (Queen Latifah) and begins to entertain thoughts of repopulating the species. There are a few problems with this, though. First, because Ellie was raised by possums and she still travels with her possum “brothers” Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), she thinks that she herself is a possum—a scenario that is more absurd than funny, though I did like the scene where she urgently rolls over on her back and “plays dead” at the sight of a predatory bird. Second, the two mammoths have no chemistry, and the fitful stabs at a relationship between them feel completely obligatory, whether because it is demanded by the continuation of the species or because it is demanded by the rules of screenwriting.

In some ways, the film is reminiscent of Robots, the last Blue Sky production; both that film and Ice Age: The Meltdown revel in clever, complex set-pieces and lowbrow, big-rear-end humor, but fall somewhat short when it comes to character development and interpersonal warmth. Still, if the new film doesn’t quite resonate on the same emotional or even spiritual levels that the first film did, it does have a zany energy that sometimes transcends the humor of the first film. Even the pop-culture references go beyond the mere fact that they refer to other movies; you don’t have to be familiar with the musical Oliver! to get a kick out of the scene where the vultures, giddy with anticipation, burst into a rapturous chorus of “Food Glorious Food.” And of course, just when things start to sag, there is always Scrat, whose misadventures with the acorn actually become a significant plot point, for once. Ice Age: The Meltdown isn’t exactly up there with Pixar, in terms of quality, but it’ll do.

Talk About It

  Discussion starters
  1. How did the main three characters show friendship to each other? In what ways have you shown the same kind of kindness to your friends?
  2. What fears have you had to conquer? How did you conquer them? What fears do you still have to conquer, and how do you think you can do that? Do you think it is unusual that a proud, tough character like Diego should have the phobia that he does?
  3. What does Sid’s experience with the sloths tell us about respect and leadership? Is leadership all about influencing people? Does it involve sacrifice? Do you think you would be less willing to take charge of certain situations if you thought it might cost you?
  4. Do you think people should ever “get together” because they should, even if they don’t feel like it? If you were the last man or woman on Earth, and you met someone of the opposite sex, would you feel obliged to pair off, just to preserve the species?

The Family Corner

For parents to consider

Ice Age: The Meltdown is rated PG for some mild language and innuendo, including a reference to Ellie’s big rear end (she’s a mammoth) and a pun involving a creature that says “Dam!” when a wall of ice is about to burst. There are some scenes of peril, and one offscreen death. There is also a reference or two to evolution.

Photos © Copyright 20th Century Fox

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

What Other Critics Are Saying

compiled by Jeffrey Overstreetfrom Film Forum, 04/06/06

Disney/Pixar is gearing up for the summer release of its latest digitally animated feature—Cars. But they’ve got some serious competition on the CGI racetrack now. Blue Sky’s latest animated adventure Ice Age: The Meltdown conquered the box office last weekend like a champ, pulling in $68 million.

Other Christian film critics are impressed with the production, but have a few reservations about the uninspired plot.

Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films) begins by lauding the original Ice Age, noting that part of its appeal—compared to Monsters Inc. and particularly Shrek—is “its very lack of sophistication and irony, a refreshing change from the overly knowing tone of much family entertainment.”

Of the sequel, he observes that “Technically, Ice Age2 is light-years ahead of its predecessor. … There’s also a new creative exuberance and visual flair … . At the same time, Ice Age2 lacks what such a sequel most crucially needs: a reason to revisit the central characters, a fresh take on their relationships, new places for them to go emotionally or dramatically. In a word, the story is lacking.”

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) says “the story thins along with the ice. But in the thawing process, the laughs and zany charm remain intact. … Meltdown might be seen as a cautionary tale about global warming, but as before its paramount message concerns family and friendship. Though obviously kid-friendly, there are several scenes involving a pair of vicious sea monsters—frozen since dinosaur days—that may frighten some tykes.”

Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) wasn’t surprised to see Meltdown “tread much of the same territory that made the original such a success. … And the positive messages—especially the importance of family, no matter what shape, size or form it comes in—are just as prevalent.” But he concludes that “Meltdown seems to have more elements of a straight-to-video story rather than a blockbuster follow-up. Maybe it’s the movie’s lagging second act … [o]r the writing that, while clever, isn’t quite up to par with the first go-round.”

Lisa Rice (Crosswalk) cautions parents of small children. “Scary elements, such as sea monsters, avalanches, and hot geysers, as well as ‘end of the world’ portrayals, could be a bit too intense for very young, impressionable children.” But she praises the themes (“in unity we prevail”) and says “the writers did an amazing job in entertaining kids of all ages.The laughter in the theater was non-stop and infectious.”

Mainstream critics have mixed feelings, but most are content to recommend it.

from Film Forum, 04/20/06

Denny Wayman and Hal Conklin (Cinema in Focus) say it’s “an entertaining children’s film with some amusing film parodies. Like too many sequels however, it lacks the power and the genius of the original.”

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