Ice Age Generates Warmth, But Little Originality

Ice Age represents 20th Century Fox's first foray into full-length animated feature films. After watching it at a recent preview screening, my first thought was: "That was the best you could do?"

This is not to say this is a bad movie or that I did not enjoy it. Ice Age is a good, solid, children's film with nice visuals and some admirable vocal performances from the likes of Ray Romano and John Lequizamo. But note the adjectives I just used: good, solid, nice, admirable. I left out conscientious, workman, "kiss-your-sisterable" (I drove my grammar-school teachers to drink a long time ago). If I were to rate Ice Age, it would be three stars out of four, a grade of B, thumbs sideways. There is nothing particularly wrong with the picture, except a distinct lack of originality.

Ice Age takes place during a time when prehistoric animals and humans inhabited the Earth together. As the movie opens, an approaching Ice Age has all of the world's four-legged creatures migrating to warmer, safer climates. Well, all except three--Sid, the Sloth; Manfred, the Mammoth; and Diego, the Sabertooth.

Sid, as voiced by Leguizamo, is all quirks and angst, a bundle of neuroses whose own family and friends have deserted him because they found him too annoying. Manfred, meanwhile, is a near-suicidal, elephant-like oaf who wants only to live out his remaining days in solitude. Sid latches onto Manfred after the bigger creature saves his life from two angry Rhinos. The two then find a human infant by the river one day and seek to return the baby to its human family.

Diego, meanwhile, tags along as a guide. But he has ulterior motives. His tribe of evil tiger companions wants to use the child for their own bad purposes. They are the adversaries of the humans and ferocious carnivores. Diego, having lost a chance to kill the baby's mother, is dispatched by the tiger leader to retrieve the lost baby. Diego also promises to deliver Manfred to the tribe for the biggest, grandest meal of fresh mammoth ever eaten (food is growing increasingly scarce as the Ice Age draws closer).

So, right there, you can recognize elements of three other recent (and better) animated films. The whole migration-for-survival set-up is straight out of Dinosaur, the underrated Disney eye-popper from a couple of years ago. The contentious relationship between Sid and Manfred is terribly similar in tone and structure to that of the Donkey and Shrek in Shrek. And the main storyline of a smaller, chattering creature teaming up with a larger, more sensitive beast to return a human baby to its rightful home among the humans is essentially the main plot of Monsters Inc., right down to the scheming arch-rival who wants the infant for his own purposes.

There are only a few scenes where Ice Age distinguishes itself. One is a terrifically realized roller-coaster chase through a maze of subterranean ice caverns that strangely (yet believably) bonds the central trio. There is another sequence in those caverns where Manfred's tragic backstory is revealed as he tearfully stares at cave drawings come to life via some really awesome CGI animation (this movie is not lacking for impressive visuals, especially those involving ice and water). And I really enjoyed a comical sequence involving some survivalist dodos that Sid and Manfred happen upon.

Of course, a heck of a lot of work goes into pumping out one of these animated babies. I am not accusing the makers of Ice Age of copying these other movies. I just think there was a general lack of originality at the basic concept level. The character types of Sid, Manfred, and Diego have all been done in movies before; for decades, in fact. Of course, if you are a six-year-old and this is your first or second animated movie, well then it's new to you. The rest of us will have to deal with a certain level of boredom as we sit through much of the film.

However, I am recommending that you sit through it. There are two big reasons why Ice Age is a must-see. Yes, you read that right. I'll even capitalize it. ICE AGE IS A MUST-SEE! The first reason is a character I haven't mentioned yet. Scrat! Scrat is ... well, I guess, he's a squirrel. He is also a loner and not part of the main action, but he shows up all throughout the movie trying desperately to bury or hide his only acorn so he can eat it later. His struggle to bury it in ground too hard to dig, or tree bark too narrow to cram anything into, is alternately hilarious and heart-tugging, and speaks to a greater struggle of nature versus survival.

Scrat has no dialogue, but we know what his character is thinking and feeling every second he is on screen. His only form of communication is a series of grunts, groans, and screams (voiced by Chris Wedge, the co-director of Ice Age). Yes, screams. My favorite moment in Ice Age comes long after Scrat has successfully squeezed his acorn into the tree (after he is rained on and struck by lightning, of course). We think we've seen the last of him. Then, near the middle of the film, Sid stumbles upon the tree and the acorn pops out. "Food!" Sid thinks. Not so fast. From the back speaker in the theater, the audience hears this distant scream. The high-pitched squeal gets louder and louder until suddenly Scrat has burst upon the scene, smacked Sid upside his head, recovered his acorn, and torn off in the other direction.

I could have had the whole movie be about Scrat. I will even go so far as to say the whole concept and realization of the character is genius. A masterstroke. I love Scrat! I want the Happy Meal toy.

Oh, there is one other reason why Ice Age is a MUST-SEE. Attached to every single print of the movie (here in the States, at least) is the fourth and final trailer for Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones! Fox TV debuted this jaw-droppingly awesome trailer between Malcolm in the Middle and The X-Filesover the weekend. But even if you saw it then, you gotta see this baby on the big screen! It is two-and-a-half minutes--150 seconds--of pure orgasmic Jedi delight, full of quick-cut action scenes and soon-to-be classic Star Wars moments. The trailer is so magnificent, it may even blast all of you Lucas doubters, Jar Jar haters, and artsy-fartsy cynics out there into the next Ice Age ... or, who am I kidding, at least into next week.

Ice Age is rated PG, but the movie does contain a few moments that might disturb some youngsters. Most notably, three characters seemingly die during the course of the film. Nothing graphic. Two of the three happen off-screen, and one ... well, I won't ruin it for ya.