Taking place at the dawn of the Ice Age, a wooly mammoth named
Manfred (voiced by Everybody Loves Raymond star Ray Romano) and a Sloth named
Sid (the manically funny John Leguizamo) encounter a little baby boy who is
separated from his tribe. Sid wants to bring the kid back to his people, and the
grumpy Manfred ultimately goes along with the idea, especially since a Saber
Tooth Tiger named Diego (Dennis Leary) takes an unusual interest in the baby.
Diego swears he just wants to help out by leading Sid, Manny and the baby to his
people's winter home.
What Manny and Sid don't know is that Diego was part of a Saber Tooth clan that
originally attacked the tribe, thus killing the mother and stranding the baby
in the woods in the first place. Diego is under orders from Soto, the Saber
leader, to bring the baby back alive as a victory feast. And so this unlikely
trio--who all get along about as well as oil and water--set out across the wintry
wastelands to bring a baby back to its father. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and
Dennis Leary are three very funny comedians, and their chemistry in this film is
pure gold. But the real star of Ice Age is a little prehistoric squirrel called
Scrat. Scrat is just trying to collect nuts for the winter, but the poor little
guy just can't seem to get a break. In the best tradition of Wild E. Coyote,
Scrat's problems just get worse and worse until they're at the point of being
damn near unbearable--yet they are always hysterically funny. However, this
scrappy little dude never truly gives up. The filmmakers recognized Scrat's
enduring popularity by including a separate short film that features the little
bugger, called "Scrat's Missing Adventure" on the second disc of the Ice Age DVD
set. I could watch an entire series of CGI cartoons based solely on Scrat's
adventures.
In addition to the short film with Scrat, the Ice Age DVD is also loaded with
special features, including commentaries from the filmmakers, "making of"
documentaries, a choice of watching the film in either wide screen or pan & scan,
and deleted scenes, among many other features. While Ice Age is prone to getting
overly cutesy at times, the humor pulls it right back on track for an enjoyable
romp in the snow. --SF