Holly
04-10-2006, 01:54 PM
March 31
By JAY BOBBIN
You're a prehistoric creature, and the Ice Age is about to end. What do you do?
That's the dilemma facing the returning characters (along with some new ones) in “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” an equally enjoyable sequel to the animated comedy that boasted the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary. They're all back in the cast, joined by Queen Latifah as a woolly mammoth who makes fellow mammoth Manny (Romano) hopeful that their species might not be doomed to extinction after all.
The big problem is that she doesn't see herself as a mammoth, but as a possum instead. Manny then has to find a way to burst her balloon while not doing it so much that she wants nothing to do with him ... not an easy balancing act.
In being smart and funny with engaging characters, “Ice Age: The Meltdown” echoes not only its own predecessor, but the best of the Disney/Pixar products like “Finding Nemo” and “Toy Story.” These may as well be live-action figures, since you come to relate to them and care about them as their quest for survival goes along. That's a serious undercurrent to the story, but the film never becomes so wrapped up in it that it becomes more ponderous than entertaining.
Animated movies are quite bountiful these days, so each one really has to prove its own worth, and that's even more the case when the picture in question has a well-received first chapter to live up to. “Ice Age: The Meltdown” achieves that, putting it in little danger of having its own meltdown at the box office.
(Rated PG)
By JAY BOBBIN
You're a prehistoric creature, and the Ice Age is about to end. What do you do?
That's the dilemma facing the returning characters (along with some new ones) in “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” an equally enjoyable sequel to the animated comedy that boasted the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary. They're all back in the cast, joined by Queen Latifah as a woolly mammoth who makes fellow mammoth Manny (Romano) hopeful that their species might not be doomed to extinction after all.
The big problem is that she doesn't see herself as a mammoth, but as a possum instead. Manny then has to find a way to burst her balloon while not doing it so much that she wants nothing to do with him ... not an easy balancing act.
In being smart and funny with engaging characters, “Ice Age: The Meltdown” echoes not only its own predecessor, but the best of the Disney/Pixar products like “Finding Nemo” and “Toy Story.” These may as well be live-action figures, since you come to relate to them and care about them as their quest for survival goes along. That's a serious undercurrent to the story, but the film never becomes so wrapped up in it that it becomes more ponderous than entertaining.
Animated movies are quite bountiful these days, so each one really has to prove its own worth, and that's even more the case when the picture in question has a well-received first chapter to live up to. “Ice Age: The Meltdown” achieves that, putting it in little danger of having its own meltdown at the box office.
(Rated PG)