Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Since I became an uncle, I've come to regard the makers of Thomas and Friends and Cars as business geniuses. They know a captive market when they see one. I've seen firsthand the very powerful draw that trains, cars, and trucks have on little boys. It's absolutely amazing.

But trains and trucks weren't my thing as a kid. I was drawn to something else entirely: Dinosaurs. So, when Ice Age came out, I thought the franchise kind of shot itself in the foot by starting out with the extinction of these big draws—despite the fun it had with saber-toothed tigers and wooly mammoths.

Mammoths Manny and Ellie, along with possums Crash and Eddie

Well, for the third film, the franchise doesn't let that little "extinction" thing get in the way of appealing to the dino-loving kids out there. Instead, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs proposes that when the ice age hit, it iced over a giant, hidden tropical world where dinosaurs still reign. Don't think too hard about the logic of how the dinosaurs could have survived. Or how the sun somehow shines in this iced-over tropical world. Or why the giant lava river wouldn't melt the ice layers above. The whole jungle-under-the-ice thing is just a device to put returning characters Manny, Diego, Ellie and Sid into a new playground full of adventure, danger (that's not too scary), and hijinks. Mission accomplished.

With more action than the other Ice Age films, a contagious spunk, and a new character who's cooler than a glacier, Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a joyful, energetic ride. And ride might be the operative word as this movie truly feels like an amusement park attraction, thanks to the very wise marriage of 3D with this action-packed journey through the center of the prehistoric Earth. The 3D is not used to have boulders fly at us or send spit water into our faces. Instead, it only brings the furry and scaled characters right up to our faces as we're put into the action. Sledding down a snowy mountain, flying through a lava cavern, and fighting raptors—they all come alive with Dawn of the Dinosaurs' very strong animation.

Manny and Diego find their friendship tested

As the movie begins, the old Ice Age crew is in the midst of transition—and not an environmental one this time. (In fact, after the global warming of the last movie, The Meltdown, the Ice Age world is now pretty much just depicted as Colorado—lots of green covered with snow.) Instead of temperate changes, our favorite mammoth/tiger/sloth/possum herd is awaiting family changes. The first child of mammoths Manny (Ray Romano) and Ellie (Queen Latifah) is expected any day.

Following the trend set in The Meltdown, this movie does not contain much in the area of deeper themes, greater meaning, or teaching moments. The storytelling is far from Pixar levels. But still, this is a franchise built on a group of unlikely friends learning to do community, and so, those threads continue. Here, Manny is all worked up about his new family responsibilities, as saber-toothed tiger Diego (Denis Leary) is starting to feel too domesticated. He's basically the bachelor best friend of a guy starting to do the family thing. He needs to get out and feed his wild side. Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), though, goes the opposite direction. He's like an only child dealing with the arrival of a new sibling. Sid feels lonely and decides he needs a family of his own. With tensions heating up between the three guys, Sid finds a new family: three large eggs left alone in a chasm under the ice. When they hatch, the adventure begins.

The three dinosaur hatchlings

And that's really what this is all about: Adventure. The familiar characters are launched into a pretty thrilling, fast-paced journey to save Sid from the land of the dinosaurs. Moving from set piece to set piece, Dinosaurs creates some great sequences which manage to be exciting and funny at the same time, including a giant Venus Flytrap and some toxic laughing gas. It's all a lot of fun thanks to the franchise's consistent tone of mostly clean, completely sincere comedy. There's again none of the cynicism, hip posturing, youth pandering or meta-references typical of kids' fare today. The only pop culture references? Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Flintstones. (There are, however, some somewhat vague sexual references that push the envelope a tad. See The Family Corner below.)

While the old characters are fun—even though a bit moved to the background—the movie gets a huge energy boost from a brand new character: A weasel named Buck (Simon Pegg, Star Trek's new Scotty). Buck is basically Dinosaur's Captain Jack Sparrow, a loony and unhinged guide through this dangerous new world. He's been in the underground world for months hunting Rudy, a great white beast that took his right eye. If the "great white" part didn't tip you off, Buck's plot is full of allusions to Moby Dick. He lives for revenge and serves to juxtapose the idea of family vs. loner when placed against the returning family of Ice Age characters. He especially seems to respect the friends' determination to find and save one of their own.

Scrat once again finds himself in trouble

Speaking of fun characters, a movie isn't Ice Age without Scrat, the primitive squirrel who's seemingly been chasing the same acorn for several millennia. Once again, the filmmakers use the silent Scrat incredibly well—giving him a love interest and two classic bits, a tar bubble chase scene and a wonderful tango sequence. These non sequitur sequences reminded me of the simple fun of old Bugs Bunny cartoons. And that's what Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is able to accomplish—a sense of good old fun.

Talk About It

1. A character says that Sid may only be found "in the afterlife." What is the afterlife?
2. Sid goes through certain feelings knowing that Manny is having a baby. How are those feelings like what it feels like to have a new brother or sister added to the family? How is it different?
3. If the group likes Sid so much—even risking their lives to save him—why do they seem mean to him and call him names?
4. What makes a group of friends work the best? Read 1 Corinthians 13. What does that say about how we should treat friends?

The Family Corner

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is rated PG for some mild rude humor and peril. The rude humor includes a line about someone having gas (no flatulence is heard), a character trying to milk a male yak, one crotch shot, and a vague reference to "the important stuff" on a body being in the front. A character says he knew a butterfly back when he was a caterpillar, "you know, before he came out." There are also some gross-out moments like a character covered in snot after being inside a dinosaur's nose. A character tells a dinosaur to "barf him up" after he swallows a mammal. Sid, the sloth, is the annoying misfit of the friend group and is often called names like "idiot." There are many scenes of peril for the main characters as they confront lots of dinosaurs.

Photos © 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky Studios

Copyright © 2009 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.