Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Review by: Doc

I love the scrat...
For the record, I love the scrat. The mascot of the Ice Age movies, this cross of a squirrel and a rat, with his never-ending quest for a beloved acorn, has become a 21st Century combination of the Trix Rabbit and Wile E. Coyote. Always seeking the acorn, never quite possessing it, and falling from cliff after cliff, he cracks me up. Like watching the penguins in Madagascar, I would watch a poor Ice Age movie just to see his eyes turn fearful and his ears droop, right before the whimper and the screech.


Luckily, this isn’t a poor Ice Age movie. It has many funny bits, and I found the personalities of the characters to be less irritating than in the first movie. Manny’s whining and Sid’s inane babbling annoyed me greatly in that one.


The animal characters are all back. Manny (Raymond’s Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo) and Diego (Dennis Leary) are living in a valley about to be flooded by the melting glaciers. As before, the animals are migrating to find rescue from impending disaster, picking up new characters along the way. In this case Queen Latifah as Ellie, the mammoth who thinks she’s a possum, and her possum twin brothers, Eddie and Crash. This latter duo provides the funniest moments in the movie with some distinctively modern gestures.


Unfortunately, like Madagascar, the movie drags with animated musical numbers by large crowds of creatures. Fortunately, and unlike Madagascar, there are only a few of them. The Fire King subplot added little sense, as did the “Food, Glorious Food” number.


Overall, it was humorous in places, … and short. It’s a good summer movie for the kids with enough laughs to keep the adult entertained, just don’t go in thinking you’ll see The Incredibles. I give it 2 ½ of 5 scalpels and a scrat-loving phalanx up.



Doc Hollywood

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