Stuff by Steve

Synopsis: The main characters from the original Ice Age attempt to escape an impending flood - the result of the warming of the ice age they just survived - and make some new friends in the process.

I liked the first Ice Age (the movie, that is, not the geological condition). I thought it was well done for a non-Disney movie which, I admit, is how I evaluate all animated features (Pocahontas notwithstanding). While not really inventive or clever, it combined solid story elements, fairly likeable characters, and a really catchy gimmick in the form of Scrat, a squirrel-like creature on a highly comical quest for acorns. I went into this movie expecting much of the same, and yet receiving little. “Meltdown’s” story was not particularly solid; the flood-escape story had promise, but it was ultimately wasted as it took a back seat to the lame let’s-make-new-friends-and-maybe-some-romance shlock. The characters, while exactly the same as before, were not particularly likeable. Finally, the gimmick just seemed to remind us of how funny the original was and this new movie wasn’t. It was as if they had already thought of all the funny ways Scrat could be flattened, stretched, squished, dropped, and struck by lightning, and they were now scraping the bottom of the barrel for new gags. This pretty much describes the whole movie. It was a collection of second-rate elements that made for an unsatisfying whole. I wouldn’t say the movie was completely terrible - there were a few moments that made me laugh - but Danielle nodded off a few times in the theater, which isn’t a good sign under any circumstance.