Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

A mini-review by me.

Let me be a little frank. I saw the first Ice Age movie. I thought it was pretty good; no where near the level of Toy Story or anything, but it was a fun little movie. In fact, we watched it during the last week of school in my Geology class my Senior year. I never really expected that a sequel to be made... But then again, I didn't think Hollywood would completely run out of ideas. That being said, I didn't have very high expectations for this movie, seeing it as another sequel that tries to further milk the CGI industry. The only reason I really went to see it was because everyone else was seeing it, and I didn't feel like sitting through V for Vendetta alone.

I'm glad they dragged me along.

The most notable change between the sequel and its predecessor is the animation, one of the strongest points of the film. The animation is crisp, clean, and incredibly complex at some moments. It's amazing what three or four years of technology will do for ya, huh? The characters' fur looked much more lifelike and the environment more realistic.

The story is a bit lacking, however. I'm not going to spoil the movie, so I'll give a basic premise. The Ice Age is coming to an end. The ice is melting, so the animals are worried about a flood. In many ways, the movie is quite apocalyptic... I half-expected the words "Dawn of the Final Day" to appear on the screen. Still, the story is a bit lacking in that nothing much really happens. The movie is more about the little moments that happen to the herd as they travel away from the icy flood regions. There's a good amount of character development, especially for the Manny the wooly mammoth, but some of the others just seemed to be along for the ride. Sid the sloth and Diego the sabre-toothed lion were very amusing, but didn't really add that much to the plot.

Although the story is a bit basic at times, the humor is pretty solid, specifically every scene featuring Scrat the squirrel, as he keeps trying to get that acorn. A lot of his scenes remind of those old, slapstick Bugs Bunny or Road Runner cartoon, including a bunch of physical comedy and falling off of cliffs. There's also a ROFL scene, featuring Sid doing some silly dancing. I haven't laughed that hard in years. If you see the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about. These scenes really highlight some of the technological achievements of the movie.

Almost forgot... For all you Oliver fans, there's a great musical number in the film, although it's a bit twisted. So beware.

Overall, a very funny movie. Again, a bit basic in the story... But very good, in terms of humor, dialogue, and animation.

8.5/10

Yes, I saw it yesterday. The story basically had one big thing to it, LIVE. If you know what I mean. Don't want to be flooded afterall. But, they only mentioned the flood a few times. It talked more about the charectors then it did the actuall plot. The humor was great though. Especially there use of language, but in a non-disrespectfull way.

I've gotta agree with you on all the points you made there. The humor was very well timed, very well co-ordinated, and perfectly achieved. Diego's comment "If anyone asks, there were a thousand of em, and they were rattlesnakes" was genius.

I've gotta say though, the movie's biggest weakness was its predictability. Almost throughout the entirety of the movie, I could sit there and foresee all the cliched moments, what with the romance subplot, the extinction subplot, and the overall happy ending. That was what brought the movie down for me, was because it just felt so incredibly formulaic, and that they had just taken a basic theme and inserted their own characters into it, especially the romance subplot. Guy meets girl, guy gets to know girl, guys screws up big-time, guy saves girl's life, guy and girl get together and live happily ever after, the end. It was a total yawn.

Not so with Scrat the squirrel. I had no idea what the heck that little fuzzball was going to get into next, and that's what made the ending scene with him that much more enjoyable. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say it had me in stitches. There's some good stuff there, you've just gotta live through some of the less interesting scenes with Manny to get to it.

Originally Posted by AJ

I've gotta say though, the movie's biggest weakness was its predictability. Almost throughout the entirety of the movie, I could sit there and foresee all the cliched moments, what with the romance subplot, the extinction subplot, and the overall happy ending. That was what brought the movie down for me, was because it just felt so incredibly formulaic, and that they had just taken a basic theme and inserted their own characters into it, especially the romance subplot. Guy meets girl, guy gets to know girl, guys screws up big-time, guy saves girl's life, guy and girl get together and live happily ever after, the end. It was a total yawn.

Yeah, I agree. That was another part of the plot I really didn't like. They establish most of the main storylines right at the beginning, like Diego's "problem," but you can kinda guess exactly how the story's going to resolve... And tie into the other characters' story. Still, if I wanted to see a movie with a well constructed story, I'd probably be seeing Crash or something.

Originally Posted by AJ

Not so with Scrat the squirrel. I had no idea what the heck that little fuzzball was going to get into next, and that's what made the ending scene with him that much more enjoyable. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say it had me in stitches. There's some good stuff there, you've just gotta live through some of the less interesting scenes with Manny to get to it.

That ending sequence is absolutely brilliant and hilarious. I'll just say that. I don't want to spoil it either.

I saw it On Saturday. It Gets a good 8/10 From Me, I agree with all the points above..The ending sequence was brillant, and the Scart episodes were some of the best bits. I think the story itself was fine, But it wish the movie itself had been abit longer. Its obviously aimed at a younger audience, and therefore They dont want kids trying to sit and concentrate for much over an hour.!

yea teh ending was good... Although the storyline was a tad bit wierd, I give it a 7.9 out of 10. The mini sloths were like awesome dude... ^^

This was the third movie I see in the cinema and it was .. good.

I loved the first Ice Age, it was great. I know that most didn't think so but what really secured it for me was the character's themselves and how they developed. A lot of "heart" <3

Originally Posted by AJ

I've gotta say though, the movie's biggest weakness was its predictability. Almost throughout the entirety of the movie, I could sit there and foresee all the cliched moments, what with the romance subplot, the extinction subplot, and the overall happy ending

I dn't see that as a problem at all =P. They obviously weren't going for that "sector" of genius. If you look back to some old-school animation like .. the roadrunner series for example, you'll see that people loved the series because of it's strong character and humour factor. They knew eXACtly what the story structure will be but that doesn't make it less enjoyable ^__^

At parts, and especially the first 25 minutes or so, it seemed as though the scenes were just slapped together for no real reason. I'm really glad it started clotting together at about half way through the movie.

Originally Posted by Jims

A lot of his scenes remind of those old, slapstick Bugs Bunny or Road Runner cartoon, including a bunch of physical comedy and falling off of cliffs.

Exactly! xD

*laughs* The rofl scenes for me were the squirrel scenes. The long jump attempt really had me laughing. I love him <3
I don't know .. the ending sequence had me wishing for a sequel =P