It seems like I’ve seen a lot of dinosaurs in the past couple of weeks.
While I was in Florida with my aunt, uncle and cousin, I spent two days
at Universal, and both days we rode the Jurassic Park river ride, which
is half sedate boat tour, half panicky log flume, with animatronic
dinosaurs in every direction. At Lion Country Safari, we wandered
through a wooded path and posed with giant sculptures of dinos, and at
Animal Kingdom, we spent a fair bit of time meandering through the dino
village and embarking on the Dinosaur ride there. It was fairly fitting,
then, to return to my aunt and uncle’s after our long drive up from
Florida and turn on the TV to find Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs just starting.
I’m not sure what it is about the Ice Age
movies, but I’ve seen all three of them now, and basically enjoyed
them, but I always seem to watch them when other things are going on, so
I’m not able to give my full attention to the movie. Hence, the details
of this third movie in the Ice Age series are just a bit fuzzy
to me as I think back on watching it a couple days ago as we wound down
from our trip. However, I did enjoy the movie overall, even if it didn’t
suck me in completely as Pixar always does.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
finds the main characters from previous movies each in a different
place in life. Sensitive mammoth Manny (Ray Romano) is about to become a
father, and while his even-keeled mate Ellie (Queen Latifah) is
handling her pregnancy with quiet dignity, Manny is so excited that he’s
beside himself. He’s channeled most of his nervous energy into
providing a perfect playground for the impending arrival, but he still
has enough left over to pester Ellie with endless questions as he
worries over whether everything will go smoothly.
Surly
saber-toothed tiger Diego (Denis Leary) finds all this lovey-dovey
family stuff pretty off-putting, and it’s enough to make him want to set
off on his own and return to a life of solitude. Meanwhile, eccentric
sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) craves a sense of belonging, of truly being
needed. He hasn’t been able to find a mate, and Manny’s domestic bliss
leaves him feeling a little left out, so when he stumbles upon a clutch
of Tyrannosaurus Rex eggs, he can’t resist bringing them home to raise
them himself. Of course, this is a dangerous idea, and though he begins
to care for them once they hatch, trouble really heats up once their
biological mother returns for them.
Soon another great quest is
underway as he tags along after the babies he’s come to think of as his
own, ignoring the threat their mother poses, and Manny and Ellie trail
after him, hoping to extract him. Parenthood is foremost on the minds of
both Sid and Manny here, and it’s sweet to see the ways in which they
prepare for and embrace that role. Their storylines mostly unfold
separately, while Scrat the comic relief prehistoric squirrel dashes
through every once in a while in pursuit of that ever-elusive nut as
well as a particularly attractive female squirrel. His antics always
steal the show in these movies, and that’s the case here as well, which
is nice because the overall tone of the film is a bit on the serious
side.
The animation in the movie is pretty nice overall. The
landscape is on the bleak side, but it has its own sort of beauty. Of
the animals, I think the mammoths come off looking the best. Sid isn’t
particularly pleasant to look at, while Scrat is fairly cute but also
deranged-looking. Diego has a solemnly handsome look about him, while
piratey weasel Buck (Simon Pegg), who comes along to serve as a guide to
the mammoths, just looks goofy.
Although I wasn’t drawn into
this movie as completely as I might have been, I did enjoy seeing the
characters again, and I thought the depiction of Manny and Sid trying to
figure out how to be father was quite touching, even if the Sid angle
reminded me a little too much of the first sequel to The Land Before Time. I hear that a fourth installment is on its way next year, and something tells me I’ll probably give that a try too.
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