sekkoon

I copy this from newspaper coz I like Ice Age II.

ICE AGE II

THE BIG CHILL

Review by Nool.

I have friends who think of the first installment of Ice Age as if it were some kind of religion. I don’t quite get it.

Certainly. it was an enjoyable film – clever gags, many funny one-liners, decent characterization by pretty impressive cast, and CGI animation that was so perfect, it left us somewhat cold.

Now, following in the footsteps of really great contemporary animation like Shrek and Toy Sory, Blue Sky Studios gives us their follow-up Ice Age II : The Meltdown.

Meltdown finds he gang – Manfred the Mammoth, Sid he Sloth and Diego the Saber-Toothed Tiger – in fine form. They have become friends for life, apparently, and are having a dang good time.

They live with an assortment of other prehistoric personalities in a glacier-bound paradise, which unfortunately begins to melt due to global-warming. The exodus to higher ground that follows mirrors the journey of the original. In the true spirit of the coming of age, selflessness, community spirit, blah, blah, blah.

The first movie revolved around the quest to return a lost human child to his tribe of hunters. It saw the players t odds with each other, a bunch of misfits drawn together by need, conscience and subterfuge. It was all very predictable and tedious, but with enough of a clever plot, new aesthetic sensibilities, and comic resonance to make the movie palatable.

Meltdown adopts most of the same antics, right down to the idiotically mundane escapades of Scrat the prehistoric squirrel. Yes, yes everybody loves @#$%^ Scrat…but how much of him are we supposed to take?

Doesn’t he remind you of Jar Jar Binks on speed? Why can’t he find something else to do with his time? How did he escape the tropical island? No, no. I did not have a miserable and deprived child? No, no. I did not have a miserable and deprived childhood and so am unable to appreciate him.

And there are no such things as children’s movies anymore – the contemporary film, be it animation or not, is sophisticated and intelligent and box-office savvy enough to realize that the adult market is so relevant that the plot and execution has to be able to cross the barriers of age.

To be honest, I miss the uncomplicated adventures of Will E. Coyote and the Road Runner. And I say this without at all diminishing the fact that today’s child is as sophisticated, intelligent and savvy as their adult counterparts.

Meltdown attempts to appeal to one and all across the board – environmental issues like extinction and melting ice caps are pretty relevant to our lives in the present.

Yet, these sentiments come across as being a bit contrived and in the process finds otself in a no-man’s land of intention. Hence its tedium in spite of a script and banter that is snappy and layered and appealing to parents and kids alike.

Having said all that, Ice Age II : The Meltdown is by no means an appalling ssequel – but neither is it a worthy follow up.

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary all reprise their respective roles but with a strange blend of commitment and indifference that translates to the viewer. Queen Latifah as Ellie the orphaned girl-mammoth who thinks she is possum (the writers did try) is introduced as a possible love interest for Manfred…

I know it is animation but there is little chemistry between them. Somehow, the ordinarily larger-than-life Queen Latifah seems somewhat tentative in her portrayal of Ellie.

All in all, the very ordinary storyline seems to have forced the filmmakers to opt for celebrity cameos in new but sadly inconsequential characters. The presence of Fat Tony, the fast-talking con-turtle played by Jay Leno, for instance, is pointless. His depiction seems somewhat disconnected from the look and feel of the other characters and contribute to the film’s vague sense of dislocation.

As always John Leguizamo’s considerable talent does not disappoint-his Sid the sloth, the maniacally loveable prankster of the group seen him at his best, and he is fun to watch. Sid is a great character – he is funny and current, wit great lines and a comic sense of timing that suggests the filmmakers love him best.

That’s the thing with this film : it seems a bit erratic in execution. Some characters just don’t come across very well. Even the two main villains, a prehistoric shark-walrus thing and a potentially scary alligator-barracuda, who are so ominous at the onset become quite forgettable near the end – not really their fault.

The fact is that any film would it hard to come back from such an ordinary storyline.

Whatever may have been said about the first Ice Age, you have to admit it had heart. This new and technologically improved sequel seems harried and indifferent in comparison.

Almost tentative.