Nothing to care about except the money - Ice Age: The Meltdown Reviews

The original "Ice Age," coming amid a flood of hugely popular Pixar and Dreamworks releases, was a well-written story that made you care about its characters. You understood the motivation for each one's actions, which created compelling interactions that resulted in a beautiful ending. "Ice Age 2?" It's all about the money. As in the money that sequals of successful films can generate. My advice? Don't bother. Not in the theater, not on pay-per-view, and not even on DVD. Every situation in "Ice Age 2" seems utterly contrived. Each actor (or at least their voices) sound as if they are going through the motions (the worst in Denis Leary's Diego). The peril that drive's the film's story is no longer character motivation, but the artificial contrivance of a flood because it seems that the only place all the animals are living is an ice-dammed valley. Can you say "Hokey?" The supposed humor of Queen Latifah's new mammoth character believing she is a possum seems solely to support the two real nwe possum characters, which are supposed to be the slapstick comedy there in case you get tired of the Scrat vignettes (not difficult), but are little more than tiresome. Sure, there were a couple of brief laugh-out-loud moments, but upon walking out of the theater, they were easily forgettable. (Compare that to the subversively gay hippopotomuses in the original "Ice Age," which still bring a smile years later.) The original "Ice Age" was a good *story,* with elements of humor that flowed naturally from that story. "Ice Age 2" is bits and pieces of slapdash frivolity that don't fit well together. Worse, there's nothing here to really *care* about, and so the whole thing becomes a pointless exercise. My advice? Skip this farce of a movie and hold out for "Cars" this summer and "The Simpsons" movie next summer.

The story melted along with the ice - Ice Age: The Meltdown Reviews

Rarely does a movie cause me to lose respect for a company (the last time it happened was when Final Fantasy: Spirits Within came out, and I believe most of America felt the same effects), but I'm sorry to say that Ice Age 2 has managed to do just that. Where Ice Age excelled, The Meltdown faltered: Ice Age was a kids' movie, and it was meant to be from the start, but at the time, Blue Sky seemed to recognize that just because something is made for kids doesn't mean it can't be deep enough to thoroughly entertain adults. It had a simple but great storyline, perils and obstacles that were relevant to and stemmed from it (with the exception of the irreverent-but-inspired dodo bird scene), and character depth and development that kept it from feeling like a kids' movie. The Meltdown, however, seemed like a clone of every single animated Disney movie that's ever come out. The storyline was about the same as Ice Age (get object 1--the herd, in this case--from point A to point B), but it could have been condensed to a ten-minute movie and been just as entertaining; as it was, the entire movie consisted of a series of disjointed skits, and the only suspense was in waiting for the next one-liner: if Diego delivered it, he would be walking from one side of the screen to the other like he was going somewhere--obviously trying to duplicate his funniest moments from Ice Age; if Sid delivered it, the line was obvious and uninspired, devoid of any of John Leguizamo's usual creativity and playing off of Sid's phobias or dumb optimism; if Manny delivered it, it was overloaded with sarcasm and superficial anger, as though he hadn't changed at all since the last movie. In all, the main characters were reduced to their most prominent characteristics (Manny his grumpiness, Diego his cynicism, and Sid his idiocy), and the new characters were introduced in the same way. The perils and obstacles in the movie were unmotivated, and only served to make the movie longer. The only reason there were two predatory fish stalking the herd was to give the kids something to be scared of. But they were unsuccessful in that regard, barely achieving the status of minor nuisance and yet another unmotivated obstacle. But none of these complaints are why I lost respect for Blue Sky. I lost respect for Blue Sky because they didn't even try. They were banking on the success of Ice Age, hoping for a cash cow. They seemed to lose the focus that made Ice Age such a success: making a good movie, first a foremost, but a good movie that happens to be animated. They exchanged a good idea for a mediocre idea. They made an animation that happened to have a story. They sold out. Out of 5, I gave The Meltdown a 2. Just for comparison, Ice Age got a 5. Just add it to the myriad sequels that don't nearly live up to their prequels. Goodness knows we have enough of them.

Age? - Ice Age: The Meltdown Reviews

I am 14, and a group of my frieds went and saw Ice Age 2. We loved it! There was not five minutes where one someone wasn't laughing! If you have little kids, and want to take them to the movies- but are sick of the boring, same-old storylines- take them to see Ice Age 2. I can garentee not only your little ones will like it.

Remember this is for kids - Ice Age: The Meltdown Reviews

I went and saw this yesterday with my 5 and 6 yr olds and I believe alot of the critism for this very unfair. While it may not be in the same league as pixars movies it is still worth the money, people and THE CRITICS seem to forget that this movie is geared towards kids, especially kids from about 3-8 yrs of age. With that being said if you have children that are in that age range there is no reason not to go, this movie has funny parts through out i will warn you though it does have some languages issues that weren't needed such as a burro (they have him saying wild ass a few times) story by Manny. But overall me and my kids liked it and it seemed so do most others that were in the packed theatre with us.

"ice fun" - Ice Age: The Meltdown Reviews

Today I witnessed another exception of a succesfull second part.. the first one was "Shrek 2" ... this movie not only catches the audience from the beginning but also gains interest through the end when our favorite prehistoric squirrel ends up being the hero of the story... I pretty much think that many people that saw the first one felt inlove with this squirrel and the writers noticed that, thank God there were more parts featured this funny animal, not to take credit of the other 3 characters but the best of the movie was the squirrel hahah... what a review huh, I guess all I can say is, go see it, you'll have a good time and you are not going to get out wanting your money back !

Will melt your heart! - Ice Age: The Meltdown Reviews

What a great family movie! The melt down showed compassion, suspense, humor, and a happy ending. What more could you want? The characters had depth and wamrth. They took family to a new meaning. I highly recommend this movie for all families and young at heart.

Disappointing - Ice Age: The Meltdown Reviews

The sequal of the original Ice Age was definitely just a sequal - it came short in every area except visuals and animations, which remained similar as the first one. The story was not as captivating as the first one, the jokes were often forced rather than natural and implicit, and there were too many "near-death" scenes. In all, the movie was forced and targeted mainly at kids, whereas the first one was good for both kids and grown-ups. I felt that I was watching a children movie, which is what it is. But the movie rarely displayed any seriousness and complexity. It attempted too much to create funny scenes that often did not connect to the overall story. Even the squirel was much more evolved and death-defying than in the first movie. I would wait for the DVD and see it then. It is still a good movie, but not a great one.