Film Review: Ice Age 2 The Meltdown

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (U)
Dir. Carlos Saldanha

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

It’s an age-old tale (approximately 2million years at least) but it’s a good one… Boy mammoth meets girl mammoth, girl mammoth thinks she’s a possum, he tells her that she has “a big butt”. She’s shy but likes the attention and tells him “you’re just saying that!” “No,” he continues, “it really is huge!” which amazingly helps win her heart. I don’t actually recommend any non-mammoths trying that line as it certainly didn’t work on my Mrs (mainly because my wife’s behind is a lovely pert work of art of course), but hey…
If like me you saw and enjoyed the first Ice Age (movie - not time period) then you should certainly check out this new offering. The tribe are all back for the continuing adventures of Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary). Plus this time they get joined by some fun new faces – female mammoth Ellie (Queen Latifah) - the potential answer to Manny’s extinction issues and a couple of insane little possums named Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck). Other notable new additions include two nasty marine monsters who fancy making our mammal heroes their lunch and a hoard of singing vultures, equally keen on picking their bones. Whilst the subject matters of extinction, death and impending doom aren’t necessarily the first ones that come to mind when looking for a cartoon comedy, Ice Age2: The Meltdown really delivers the goods on all counts – it’s fun enough for the kids, it’s engaging enough for parents and it’s even romantic enough to make it a harmless date movie…
You see things are heating up, the Ice Age may be over and global warming is about to seriously intervene in the lives of the creatures living in their peaceful valley. Will the extended tribe survive the threat of a watery wall of destruction? Can Manny and Ellie find true love and prevent the mammoths from dying out just yet? And perhaps most importantly of all – will the scene stealing, acorn hunting rodent Scrat – the funniest critter from the first film, ever break free of his Sisyphean challenge to finally secure his beloved nut?
There’s only one way to find out and this Easter is the perfect time to do it.

Darkmatt Rating: ööö (cool CGI - literally)


Click here to read interview with Scrat :Ice Age 2: The Meltdown - Scrat speaks out

Darkmatters: H O ME