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The Age of Commercialism

Really Surprised!

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

After the very successful animated film Ice Age we get treated too a sequel. 4 years since the release of the first film and in that time frame you would expect that the filmmakers would come up with a good sequel. I will say that the film is creative and fun but the film is missing something that the first one had makes the sequel decent but not great.In this film we have our three heroes returning for another adventure. When it seems like the entire world is melting, Manny, Diego, Sid all set out to find a "boat" at the other end of the valley when Manny begins to think that he might be the last Mammoth on Earth he finds another one with a very unusual problem.The story I find in this one to be much more creative than the first one. Enough though to some existent it a "Noah's Ark" story but the first one was really a hybrid between Shrek and Monster's Inc but the film had enough charming characters and laughs to let us look away from that problem. So I give this film a lot more credit for trying to come up with something different than the rest. The film does get pretty creative in the environment that it is set in. There is a lot more personification in this film than the last one making the animals more human than the last one. I think this takes away from one of the aspects that made the original so charming and funny was the characters were pretty much just like the animals they were portraying and didn't involve too much human like behavior. In this film they have schools and pools and swimming and granted this is an animated kid's film but I think sticking to the first one's style of play would have been better.The Humor in the film is also for the most part very good. Just like in the first one we get a little bit of everything. There is some smart humor that might blow over the heads of the young children however not that much. We get some great slapstick humor which will have the children and adults laughing and some dirty inside jokes that is kept very low key and very much implied but as quagmire once said in family guy (paraphrasing slightly), "You know where this is going, it's all implied. The kids don't know but we do."However with that being said the humor just doesn't match the humor of the first one. Although this film is funny and does have some great laugh out loud moments it just doesn't have the same charm and comedic timing and trimmings that the first one had. This one lowers itself down to mostly potty and slapstick humor. It feels a bit lazy and the younger ones won't mind and it will entertain all but for most of us we were hoping for a bit more. That's not at all to say this movie isn't funny.There is something else that is missing in this movie that the last one had. That little something is a very basic element of the human spirit. That basic element is the heart and soul of this movie. The first one we had Manny's dark past and Diego's change of heart and Sid's lovable, want everybody to be a family type character and all that wrapped into one big quest to big a lost child home. That was the heart and soul of that film and it succeeded because that emotional heart and center. Also all those themes and stories were all interconnected and played in and out throughout the film. In this we don't get much of that and this is the main reason why I think this film is not nearly as good as the first one. This one we get mostly a comedy with not much of anything else. In this we get a silly romance that doesn't hold much weight. Manny has insecurity issues with the possibility of being the last Mammoth. Diego has a fear of the water and Sid thinks he deserves more respect (and nearly kills himself in the process of trying getting some). All in all there isn't much here. That's not to say the film isn't entertaining because it certainly is and you will have fun watching it but don't expect any more of it.The stars have returned from the original first film to the sequel and deliver some good voice work. Ray Romano returns as Manny and is funny as he always is in whatever he does. Denis Leary also returns as Diego and his role is dumbed down to a funny sidekick but Denis does great voice work. John Leguizamo is back as the funny; stupid but lovable Sid the Sloth and we get the same funny character we got last time and always provide us with a great laugh.Scrat is back! The little dopey Wild Coyote of this generation. He has absolutely nothing to do with the main storyline and you know what? I could not care less he is a welcome distraction as his quest for the nuts continues and gets himself involved in more wacky situations.A newcomer to the cast includes Queen Latifah as the Mammoth that is having an identity crisis and is funny but nothing special as Ellie. Josh Peck and Seann William Scott play a possum gang of brothers who loves causing trouble and is the best new addition to this film. Both brilliant with great chemistry and remain funny throughout.The film with everything together is a very entertaining film and remains funny throughout however lacks the good heart that made the first so great and the humor is up to par with the original however it is a decent sequel.Final Score 6/10

Having seen 2002's "Ice Age" with my entire family, we enjoyed it dearly and we knew that there would most likely be a sequel. When 20th Century-F0X announced that a sequel was in the works over at the studio, we were excited. We couldn't wait to see our favorite trio again on the big screen! Once the film came out, we enjoyed every second of it, laughing out loud at all the hilarious moments, including Scrat (the saber-tooth squirrel)'s mishaps with his beloved acorn. He's even more nuts than he was in the first film (pun intended)! In this sequel, we are introduced to three new characters, Ellie the Shemoth (played by Queen Latifah of "Living Single" and "Living Out Loud" fame), a female mammoth who is deluded and thinks she's a possum (much like how throughout much of the 1st Toy Story, Buzz thought he was an actual space ranger, not a toy, until he realizes later on that he IS a toy), who is Manny's love interest as Manny was having stress about the fact the he may be the last of his kind, and Ellie's two possum brothers, Crash (played by Seann William Scott, of "American Pie" fame) and Eddie (played by Josh Peck of Nickelodeon fame).If you enjoyed the first Ice Age, you'll love The Meltdown!! With it's mind-blowing animation and over-the top humor, you and your entire family will laugh out loud until you can't LOL no more!

Ice Age: The Meltdown is really two movies and, like the predators that loom throughout, both movies are vying for supremacy. The first involves the prehistoric caravan from the original in a fast-paced adventure story as they try to stay one step ahead of a nasty plague of global warming. The second wallows in long treks of dialogue about extinction, misunderstandings, reproduction, phobias, what-makes-a-family and at least one head-scratcher of an identity crisis. I enjoyed the first but for the second, I kept longing for my Fast-Forward button.As you will recall, the characters from the earlier film Manfred the Mammoth, Sid the Sloth and Diego the Saber-toothed Tiger formed a small herd. They are no less friendly this time though some personality flaws start to emerge including Sid who contracts Dangerfield's Disease and complains that he don't get no respect; Diego has an apparent fear of water; Meanwhile, Manny fears that he's the last of his kind. You don't have to be Kreskin to figure out that all of these issues are dealt with in the third act.But the larger problem begins with the information that the ice glaciers are melting and they will soon find themselves a mile underwater if they don't find a legendary hollow log that will sail them to safety. That sets them on a long trek where they deal with their problems and Manny finds a pretty girl-mammoth named Elly (voice of Queen Lahtifah) who could help him repopulate the species if she wasn't under the delusion that she's a possum (It sounds lame but, trust me, it sets the stage for at least three brilliant sight-gags).Manny and Elly are sweet together and I enjoyed a lot of their chemistry. But their scenes together run a bit long and there is talk after talk after talk after talk and where the movie should be bouncy it just kind of politely rolls. The dialogue leaves the visuals (which are breathtaking) left to be glanced mostly over their shoulders.Apart from all of these problems is, of course, the reason we came to see the movie in the first place: Scrat the hapless squirrel who continues his endless quest to hold on to apparently the only acorn left on earth. He gets involved in three brilliant set-pieces, one involving piranha, one involving a run-in with a baby bird and a third that I can't reveal but let's just say it's strikes a perfect a note and closes the movie. Scrat is what holds the movie for me, just like the original Ice Age he's a hundred times more interesting than anything else in the film.Scrat helps to break up those long passages of dialogue and so do two production numbers that I didn't expect. One involves a masterpiece of comic genius involving some ever-watchful buzzards who perform perhaps the creepiest version of "Food, Glorious Food" that I've ever seen (somewhere Busby Berkley is either smiling or crying). The other involves a tribe of sloths who are so fascinated by Sid's ability to make fire that they pronounce him their fire god. They go into a fun chanting number that - darn it - had my toes tapping. The problem is that these great scenes are a very small part of the movie, broken up by long passages in which the characters talk and talk and talk.I wish the movie had found that kind of bouncy note of fun all the way instead of pausing for character flaws. As I said, this is two movies, one that moves and one stops for a long chat. I'm not averse to conversation but in the case of an animated comedy less might have been more.**1/2 (of four)

You can see how first part is very illuminating but I wanted to watch second one because this theme attracted me so much . Maybe it isn't following other parts but its heart is emptier than first one . There are very funny parts and there are maybe some parts which are bringing us new vision of this funny serial . You can find yourself in every part of this funny adventure . Maybe it isn't so well made as I expected . You can see that authors of this movie were inspired with one actual global problem . This movie is showing how this animals are reacting in this climate change . It is maybe way how you can find inspiration and from problem make really funny and nice part in every animated serial . Sid and whole team impressed me because they are again here in this friendship .