And so the Ice Age gravy train continues to rake in money hand-over-fist. The animated series has thus far grossed more than two billion dollars world-wide, and the fourth film in the franchise will doubtlessly dramatically swell that figure.
Yet while the filmmakers could have taken a lazy approach to Ice Age: Continental Drift, rushing the sequel into cinemas and cackling maniacally as the money floods in, they actually seem to have taken some time and care over this one. So while the narrative is nothing to write home about, following the template of countless family flicks, the visuals are striking and lush and the jokes consistently hilarious.
Proceedings commence in classic Ice Age style, with series mainstay Scrat endeavouring to guard his beloved (and seemingly cursed) nut. His efforts take him to the centre of the earth, where the prehistoric squirrel tears up the tectonic plates and causes the continents to split.
Scrat’s isn’t an isolated story this time around, however, with his immense mishap having a devastating effect on the characters in the main story – namely Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and Diego the sabre-toothed tiger (Dennis Leary).
For the land division sets them adrift on a tiny iceberg, separating the triumvirate from their family and friends. The rest of the film documents their efforts to be reunited with said loved ones, as they embark on an action-packed journey across the high seas.
Along the way they encounter intense storms, malevolent pirates, deadly sirens and kindly whales, and these lively sequences deliver many of the movie’s highlights.
Less successful is the parallel story that unfolds back home, and revolves around Manny’s daughter Peaches befriending the ‘cool kids’ before being rejected by the buggers. A predictable and preachy tale of teenage angst, it slows the story down and feels more like an episode of Family Ties than a diverting blockbuster sub-plot.
Mercifully Scrat is on-hand to perk proceedings up, his mini-movies transporting the squirrel to a nutty desert island and, most memorably, Scratlantis, where he encounters a quite hilarious vocal cameo.
And it’s the voice work that really brings Continental Drift to life. Romano, Leguizamo and Leary deliver the goods once again, but Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage gives them a run for their money as Captain Gutt, a pesky pirate primate with a penchant for sea shanties and death.
Nick Frost is also on scene-stealing form as Flynn, an intellectually-challenged prehistoric seal. But it’s Curb Your Enthusiasm favourite Wanda Sykes who dominates the feature as Sid’s sassy Grandmother.
Arriving in a fine Beverly Hillbillies sight gag, she then proceeds to jive talk her way through proceedings, the film coming to life whenever she’s onscreen. And in a surprise twist, her simple story arc delivers the heart and soul that the Peaches’ plot-line so spectacularly fails to nail.
Granny’s feisty efforts, combined with beautiful 3D images that pop off the screen in spectacular fashion, produce as good an Ice Age film as we’ve yet seen.
It certainly isn’t a Pixar-beater, the narrative too simplistic and one-dimensional to compete with the best that that studio has to offer. But taken on its own terms, Continental Drift is a consistently funny and entertaining sequel that should enthral children while at the same time teasing more than a few belly laughs from their parents.
Source : ign[dot]com
