Review of Ice Age (2002) by Eric H — 16 May 2011

"The funniest part of the movie was its trailer.".

In today's age, it is very difficult to come up with a film that will be equally funny for all ages. Very difficult. But "Ice Age" comes very close to finding the perfect balance. It is also very difficult to create a film that brings a realistic plot to a prehistoric setting (at least, without ripping off The "Land Before Time"). "Ice Age" was also able to do that. But the unfortunate thing is that though it triumphs in several areas, it has an equal amount of failures.

Let's take a look at the film's basic plot - A sloth and a mammoth are among a massive group of animals trying to escape the coming Ice Age. On their journey, they come across a human child who was separated from his family during the attack of a ferocious group of vengeful sabretooth tigers. The mammoth and the sloth then decide to try and bring the child back to his family, and are aided in their quest by one of the sabretooth tigers who attacked the village, who is secretly trying to lead them back to his fellows so that they might kill the human child.

It's fairly simplistic, but really not that bad for a short kid's movie, especially combined with some touching backstory. Unfortunately, the story part of the movie takes a back seat to cheap laughs. The antics of an insane squirrel, the hilariously pathetic demise of a group of militaristic dodos, and the sarcasm-marinated remarks of the story's protagonists are what take center stage, and what people will take away from the film.

Not that this is a bad thing-every movie needs some humour, especially a kid's movie... But it all seems a bit overblown and unnecessary, and while there are many moments in the film that will leave you laughing on the first view, it all gets very old very fast.

Essentially, of the film's 80 minutes, about 25 minutes are story, and 15 are very good humour that will keep you laughing after seeing the film 100 times, and were condensed into the trailer. The rest, about half of the movie, is cheap laughs. Far too much.

All this to say that "Ice Age" really isn't that bad for a family film. It's fairly original, funny, charming at times, and actually has some very touching backstory... but after seeing it once, I can't be bothered to watch it again. The story, however moving, is lost in a mess of bad jokes, most of which just weren't all that funny anymore. The funniest part of the movie was its trailer.

In the end, what it all comes down to is that Ice Age has a lot of things. It has heart, it has characters, and it has story, but none of that really matters, because with half the film consisting of acorn hunting, ice-slides, mud fights and dodo wars. This film doesn't seem to want to be a family film. It wants to be a kid's comedy, and judging by how the insane rat-squirrel earned a place on the film's poster instead of any of the main characters, it has succeeded.