My Review of Ice Age · 9:23pm Aug 4th, 2021
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, folks! I am back with another movie review for today! This afternoon, I will be speaking of one of the most beloved and cherished films in animated history... it is none other than the chilly and cold Ice Age! Geez, it is not even winter yet, and I already feel cold! Jokes aside, this is yet another one of my favorite movies that I will never forget. Just like with Open Season, this movie is the best film of the series—namely five movies of the same name. It is filled with great comedy, solid animation, intriguing characters, and straight-forward writing. It is the beginning of a chilly adventure that leads our main characters into a series of events that will change their lives.
This story focuses on a grumpy, anti-social, and melancholy wooly mammoth who went through a traumatic experience when he had a family of his own once. After losing his family—his wife and child—to the humans, he became a grouchy and sour animal that no one would associate with him. Not until he met Sid the sloth and Diego the saber-tooth tiger. Even though he hated being around them at first (mostly with Sid), he eventually warmed up to them as they had to work together to bring a baby back to his father during the Ice Age.
As I said, the character development was strong as Manny had to learn to build trust with his new friends and especially when he even bonded with the human baby. However, things get heated when Diego’s own pack—led by Soto—try to kill and eat the baby for revenge against the humans for killing half of their pack. Conflicted, Diego had to decide whether he will remain loyal to his ruthless pack or redeem himself by teaming up with his new friends and stop his former boss from getting the human child.
This is how you do a villain redemption. Nowadays, we have pathetic antagonists who did stupid, ridiculous crimes against humanity and instantly get forgiven despite not having done anything to earn it nor having any redeeming qualities.
I just love the way these characters interacted with each other and how they progressed the story. That’s what made them interesting in the first place and enjoyable to watch. Even for Manny, remembering what happened to him long ago, he had to regain the strength he needed to protect the child from harm as a way to make up for his failure in saving his family. Plus, it began a new journey where he would start over again and encounter new friends and family he would eventually meet. ;)
Soto was a good villain in this movie too. His motivations made sense, his personality was spot-on, and his menacing characteristics were top-notch. The same can be said about his compatriots.
The voice acting was likewise amazing, specifically the voice acting of Ray Romano (Manny), John Leguizamo (Sid), and Denis Leary (Diego). They were fantastic choices for the main characters and gave their wonderful performances along with their unique style of conveying their tone of voice.
Of course, I CANNOT forget to mention the MVP and star of these films: Scrat. That saber-toothed little squirrel is just one of the best slapstick comedic characters in the history of cartoon animation. I cannot stress that enough! I bet the screenwriters had to laugh their lungs out every time they write a hilarious scene involving him. That acorn must surely hate him a lot, eh?
Overall, it is a classic, family-fun movie that deserves all the praise and love it has gotten over the years. I give another 11/10 for this one.
Peace!
That squirrel was stupidity hilarious.
This movie helped me get into the franchise, and for that I am grateful. Pity we didn’t get a sixth movie to complete it.
I used to enjoy this movie as a kid. Nowadays, though…unlike so many other people in this world, I consider the first Ice Age film to be severely overrated. One of the worst animated films ever made even.
Call me crazy, but the only elements I considered to be interesting were its voice acting, characters, and character development. That, and its setting and focus on extinct mammals like Woolly Mammoths and Sabretooth Cats was something I found to be commendably original for an animated feature.
Other than that, the animation is excruciatingly cheap-looking and outdated for an early 2000s film, the comedy was flat, and the pacing was too quick to the point of where things seemed surprisingly underdeveloped.
Ooof, it´s been years since I last rewatched this movie. It´s been 19 years and still holds up to this day with its original story. Personally, my favourite scene was the one they were in the ice slides. It made both my sister and I laughed so much.
Now that we´re talking about prehistoric movies, that reminds me, not so long ago, I rewatched disney´s Dinosaur. Did you make a review of that movie?
5564413
Never watched that movie.
5564417
Oh ok, no worries
On the bright side, your review did inspire me to do my own analysis on the film at some point in the future. I was originally going to save reviewing the series for after I analyzed Blue Sky’s non-Ice Age films, but now…I’ve changed my mind.
A similar situation happened with your review on “Open Season” too. Your positive notes on it inspired me to do my own analysis on that film.
5564677
Glad to hear.
I have a question:
I know Blue Sky was closed down by Disney due to COVID-19 Pandemic taking its toll on them, but...how possible do you think it’d be for another big company to buy Blue Sky from Disney? Like Amazon, for instance?
5598475
Ugh, not interested in that type of question.
5598476
🤷🏻♂️Okay then.