Ice Age: Continental Drift is the fourth installment in the popular Ice Age franchise after the original premiered 10 years ago, can you believe that?
In Continental Drift, we are introduced to Manny’s now teenage daughter, Steffie (Nicki Minaj-why?), who is trying to hang out with all the cool kids so she can meet her boy crush Ethan (Drake-again, why?). Manny (Ray Romano), doing what overprotective fathers do best, prohibits her from going causing a riff in their relationship. During this debacle Sid’s family drops by to force their equally annoying grandmother upon him as they flee the land because the continents are shifting, ruining homes for many (We can thank Scrat for this).
When the ice starts breaking, Manny, Sid (John Leguizamo) and Diego (Denis Leary) are separated from the rest of the herd with Manny promising Steffie and Ellie (Queen Latifah) that he will find them and be reunited. The trio of misfits embark on an Odyssey (in Homer’s sense of the word) via an iceberg in an attempt to make it home, encountering and battling pirates, sirens and a variety of other creatures on the way.
In this go-around, we are introduced to plenty of new and exciting characters voiced by mostly solid talent like Sid’s eccentric and toothless Granny (Wanda Sykes), the evil orangutan pirate Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage), his fellow pirates like Squint the rabbit (Aziz Ansari) and Shira the female saber tooth (Jennifer Lopez) who may or may not become a love interest of Diego. There is also a group of chipmunk-like creatures that turn into Braveheart style warriors that provide some hilarious bits of comedy.
I’ve been a fan of Ice Age since the get-go, mostly because of how much I love watching Scrat the squirrel attempt to plant/eat his elusive acorn and how he is the character that causes almost all the climactic problems for the rest of the animals on the planet. In this film, he causes the continental shift in one of the funniest scenes of the film in which he falls all the way down to the earth’s core. There is another scene which continues with the theme of Greek mythology involving the city of Atlantis that is both temporarily uplifting and sidesplitting; it was a brilliant scene to include in the film.
As for the movie itself, this Ice Age odyssey was a fun adventure to go on and the quality seem
ed in line with its predecessors. The story was a lot of fun because of the great animation and design work that allowed the filmmakers to play with a bunch of new creatures and environments that haven’t been utilized yet in the series, namely the Sirens, a massive Sperm-like Whale and a giant crab. The humor rested on the laurels of the goofy supporting characters while the drama hinged on the mammoth leads, per usual. Oh, and the action was very dynamic for the types of battles that directors Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier had orchestrated.
My question is, where will the series go from here? I ask because there is no way Fox and Blue Sky Studios would allow this popular franchise to end now after a very strong and successful run, I predict one more film. My only concern is that they’ve moved so fast and covered so many climactic and geographic changes that they’ll either need to become extinct or reintroduce humans to the party, neither of which would be beneficial to the animals or the series.
Overall, Ice Age: Continental Drift is a solid addition to the fun series and is a great family film that can be enjoyed by all. If I watched it alone and laughed out loud throughout there is no doubt in my mind families, both young and old, will enjoy the semi-relatable story as well.
Bonus features:
There aren’t a ton of features on this disc but that’s honestly ok because there is one feature involving Sid dancing that makes up for it all.
Ice Age: The Story so Far (9:30) – This is an abridged version of the first three Ice Age movies. Someone took pieces of the story from each film and tried to make a coherent and quick story that shows us how we arrived to the film we just watched.
Whale of a tale: Beasties (8:00) – The crew behind the film discuss the creatures of the film and how, while based off of real animals, not all of them are authentic as they made some entertaining changes to make them seem relevant to the period. For example, the giant crab was their take on a prehistoric crab but given character, the same goes with the prehistoric looking Sperm Whale and Narwales.
Whale of a Tale: Myths (8:30) – The crew behind the film discuss the mythology behind the story, namely how much the story was influenced by Homer’s The Odyssey and how both are stories about a father trying to get home.
Shimmy Shake Music Section:
- Gutt’s Sing-along: Shanty, Shimmy, Shake
- “We Are” Extended Music Video
- “Chasing the Sun” by The Wanted
- The Sid Shuffle – A video with Sid showing us how to his Continental Drift dance and then cut with clips of people from around the world doing his shuffle. This is the bonus feature I mentioned above that makes lack of features and owning this disc worth it.
Movie Rating: For fans of the series this is another comical chapter in the lives of the odd-ball trio, Manny, Diego and Sid (6.8/10)
DVD Rating: 6/10
Ice Age: Continental Drift will be available on Blu-ray and DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on December 4th.
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