Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
7/8/09
Because it includes dinosaurs
and happened to be playing at my favorite drive-in, Ice Age: Dawn
of the Dinosaurs marks my first trip into the chilly prehistoric world
of the Ice Age franchise. On its' basis, I feel vindicated
in my decisions on all three movies: the regular characters are as
bland as they are family-friendly, but an injection of vicious dinosaurs
and a movie-stealing guest character brilliantly voiced by Simon Pegg make
up for what they lack, making the third Ice Age in all likelihood the first
worth bundling up for.
It's a stressful time for
the oddball “herd” made up of Woolly Mammoth couple Manny (voice of Ray
Romano) and Ellie (Queen Latifah), giant sloth Sid (John Leguizamo), sabertooth
tiger Diego (Denis Leary) and assorted other ice age mammals. Ellie's
pregnant, and Manny's turned all his attention to preparing for his new
family, which leaves Diego feeling like it's time to move on and Sid looking
for a family of his own. He finds it in a clutch of dinosaur eggs
he discovers at the bottom of a huge hole. Hatching and raising the
eggs as his own, Sid's new dinosaur kids wreck their share of havoc, but
nothing compared to what happens when their Mom shows up. The big
ol' dinosaur grabs the three babies and Sid for good measure and goes stomping
back down that hole. The gang follows, discovering a Lost World of
dinosaurs living in a jungle buried under their glacial home. But
to survive this strange new world and save their friend, the mammals will
need help in the form of a crazed survivalist weasel named Buck (Simon
Pegg).
And thank God they do, because
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is The Buck Show for most of
its' running time. Having lost his mind as well as an eye shortly
after arriving in this pre-prehistoric world, the weasel's romanced reptiles,
married a pineapple (an ugly one, at that), and carried on thoughtful conversations
with bleached skulls ever since. Pegg's vocal stylings are outstanding,
creating a perfectly silly voice for a character so gloriously crazy it's
hard to imagine how the Ice Age ever went on without him.
Dinosaurs, of course, are
always cool, and while Ice Age's aren't ones for the record books,
they get the job done. The three babies are adorable, and Buck's
nemesis, the gigantic Rudy, is a solid kid's movie villain. Overall,
the hidden jungle is a nifty place, complete with carnivorous plants and
a diverse collection of dino-extras that should have junior paleontologists
in a tizzy. And by walling off its' reptiles in a Lost World, the
movie is able to balance the obvious problem with pairing them with Ice
Age mammals.
Pity then that the series'
regulars are so... adequate. Sid's certainly funny, especially in
the early scenes where his attachment to the dinosaur eggs borders on sloth
psychosis. But the rest of the gang kinda just lays there.
Leary's skills are totally declawed by the all-talk Diego character, and
he, Romano and Latifah aren't really creating characters, just reading
their lines in their own voices. The Mammoths are also strangely
inexpressive, odd given how adorable their baby proves to be. The
initial strife between the characters is unconvincing and oh-so-sequel-friendly,
and from there everybody's pretty much just Buck's straight man.
And I have to say that the little squirrel who spends all his time trying
to choose between the lady squirrel and the nut, a little of him does a
long, loooooong way. Also, how come nobody notices what must be a
pretty serious temperature difference between the worlds above and below?
Ice Age: Dawn of
the Dinosaurs looks great, and I could see how its' shiny surfaces
and gaping chasms should play really well in the alternate 3D version.
It's a pleasant, intermittently hilarious little flick that should entertain
prehistoric fans of all ages and sell a whole lot of toy Buck the weasels.
But it did absolutely nothing to explain to me how we got to an Ice
Age 3 to start with. |
