Perdita
29-06-2009, 17:29
Director: Carlos Saldanha, Mike Thurmeier
Screenwriters: Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman, Mike Reiss, Yoni Brenner
Starring: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg, Sean William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah
Running time: 96 mins
Certificate: U
The chilly landscapes of the first two Ice Ages are left behind for this latest sequel Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, with prehistoric pals Manny, Ellie, Sid and Diego discovering a colourful and vibrant world below the ice inhabited by dinosaurs that escaped extinction. The themes of family and unity that punctuated the previous instalments are expanded upon in this agreeable if familiar CG animated comedy.
Expecting their first child, doting mammoths Manny (Romano) and Ellie (Latifah) are planning for a life of domesticity. Their herd still consists of sabre-toothed tiger Diego (Leary), slow-witted sloth Sid (Leguizamo) and possums Crash (Scott) and Eddie (Peck). Naturally, it's Sid who sets in motion events that lead the gang on their new adventure. Looking on enviously at Manny and Ellie's impending parenthood, he finds three eggs (naming them Eggbert, Shelly and Yoko) and steals them to start his own family. When the real mother, a Tyrannosaurus rex, comes calling Sid and the young dinos are snatched, leaving it up to his ragtag group of friends to head under the ice and save him.
Simon Pegg is a new addition to the voice cast, playing one-eyed weasel Buck. The character is a clever mix of Han Solo's rogue charm and Quint from Jaws's grizzled madness. Pegg may not have the A-list looks of Harrison Ford or the ragged features of Robert Shaw, but in this vocal role he builds an endearing character in Buck, who spins yarns about his scraps with albino mega-dino Rudy (Buck lost his eye in one fight, but came away with his foe's tooth). Buck provides a lively gateway for the established Ice Age players to embark on a sweeping adventure romp involving rampaging dinosaurs, a ferocious encounter with a carnivorous plant and a vertiginous pursuit over lava rivers.
Ice Age wouldn't quite be complete without Scrat, the manic squirrel who continues his hopeless quest to snatch an elusive acorn. Once again his segments run in parallel to the main story and serve up some chucklesome, Pixaresque interludes. The hapless squirrel is fast becoming the reason to see the Ice Age movies and Dawn, the first to utilise 3D, chooses to introduce this element by opening on Scrat’s unmistakable nose sniffing across ice. There's even a love interest for him in the form of Scratte, who has eyes on his acorn. The funniest encounter sees Scrat get the nut stuck to his chest with forest goop, only to see it and his fur ripped off in a scene as painful as Steve Carell’s chest rug waxing in The 40 Year Old Virgin.
Dawn's humour never quite reaches a level of sophistication to give it leverage with a more grown-up crowd. Buck's throwaway remark about a butterfly is about as adult in-jokey as it gets. “I knew him when he was a caterpillar. He must have come out,” says Buck. However, with derring-do and a bold spirit, Ice Age 3 rockets along nicely, even if character concessions are made (a sub-plot about Diego's loss of mojo is never fully explained). Seen as a whole, the Ice Age series now appears to resemble the Back To The Future trilogy - this third outing is better than the last but it doesn’t quite match up to the first.
I can't wait for this one :cheer:
Screenwriters: Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman, Mike Reiss, Yoni Brenner
Starring: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg, Sean William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah
Running time: 96 mins
Certificate: U
The chilly landscapes of the first two Ice Ages are left behind for this latest sequel Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, with prehistoric pals Manny, Ellie, Sid and Diego discovering a colourful and vibrant world below the ice inhabited by dinosaurs that escaped extinction. The themes of family and unity that punctuated the previous instalments are expanded upon in this agreeable if familiar CG animated comedy.
Expecting their first child, doting mammoths Manny (Romano) and Ellie (Latifah) are planning for a life of domesticity. Their herd still consists of sabre-toothed tiger Diego (Leary), slow-witted sloth Sid (Leguizamo) and possums Crash (Scott) and Eddie (Peck). Naturally, it's Sid who sets in motion events that lead the gang on their new adventure. Looking on enviously at Manny and Ellie's impending parenthood, he finds three eggs (naming them Eggbert, Shelly and Yoko) and steals them to start his own family. When the real mother, a Tyrannosaurus rex, comes calling Sid and the young dinos are snatched, leaving it up to his ragtag group of friends to head under the ice and save him.
Simon Pegg is a new addition to the voice cast, playing one-eyed weasel Buck. The character is a clever mix of Han Solo's rogue charm and Quint from Jaws's grizzled madness. Pegg may not have the A-list looks of Harrison Ford or the ragged features of Robert Shaw, but in this vocal role he builds an endearing character in Buck, who spins yarns about his scraps with albino mega-dino Rudy (Buck lost his eye in one fight, but came away with his foe's tooth). Buck provides a lively gateway for the established Ice Age players to embark on a sweeping adventure romp involving rampaging dinosaurs, a ferocious encounter with a carnivorous plant and a vertiginous pursuit over lava rivers.
Ice Age wouldn't quite be complete without Scrat, the manic squirrel who continues his hopeless quest to snatch an elusive acorn. Once again his segments run in parallel to the main story and serve up some chucklesome, Pixaresque interludes. The hapless squirrel is fast becoming the reason to see the Ice Age movies and Dawn, the first to utilise 3D, chooses to introduce this element by opening on Scrat’s unmistakable nose sniffing across ice. There's even a love interest for him in the form of Scratte, who has eyes on his acorn. The funniest encounter sees Scrat get the nut stuck to his chest with forest goop, only to see it and his fur ripped off in a scene as painful as Steve Carell’s chest rug waxing in The 40 Year Old Virgin.
Dawn's humour never quite reaches a level of sophistication to give it leverage with a more grown-up crowd. Buck's throwaway remark about a butterfly is about as adult in-jokey as it gets. “I knew him when he was a caterpillar. He must have come out,” says Buck. However, with derring-do and a bold spirit, Ice Age 3 rockets along nicely, even if character concessions are made (a sub-plot about Diego's loss of mojo is never fully explained). Seen as a whole, the Ice Age series now appears to resemble the Back To The Future trilogy - this third outing is better than the last but it doesn’t quite match up to the first.
I can't wait for this one :cheer: