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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Ice Age
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  out of 4
Review by Susan Granger
3 stars out of 4
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With its first full-length, digitally-animated feature, 20th
Century-Fox joins Disney and DreamWorks in the ever-growing race for the family
audience. This adventure revolves around a trio of prehistoric, sub-zero heroes
- Manfred, a moody, misanthropic mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano) who refuses to
join the southern migration; Sid, a manic, loquacious Sloth (voiced by John
Leguizamo); and Diego, a sneaky saber-tooth tiger (voiced by Dennis Leary) -
traveling together on a perilous quest to reunite an abandoned baby with its
human tribe while the daunting and dangerous forces of nature close in around
them. "We're the weirdest herd I've ever seen," comments Sid. The most amusing,
diverting character is Scrat, a hapless saber-tooth squirrel-rat (voiced by
director Chris Wedge) who inadvertently cracks a glacier while trying to bury an
acorn and is obsessed with his precious nut. And the most sinister is Soto
(voiced by Goran Visnic), leader of the lean, mean saber-tooth tigers. The
original computer-animation by the artists of Blue Sky Studio, located in White
Plains, NY, is more hard-edged and realistic, perhaps, than usual but it suits
the theme of teamwork & trust in this frosty setting. Particularly impressive -
and appreciated by the young audience - is the exciting ice funnel-slide
sequence. Writers Michael J. Wilson, Michael Berg and Peter Ackerman's
returning-a-lost-child-to-its-family plot is similar to "Monsters Inc." but that
shouldn't bother kids at all, particularly since the voice work is so effective.
Nor will the fact that they've seen many of the funny gags and one-liners on the
TV commercials. So on the Granger Family Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Ice Age" is a
slick 7. Cool.
Copyright © 2002 Susan Granger
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