Ice Age 2 Review

Many a Sunday passes completely uneventfully for me. I'm not religious so I don't have to worship an abstract concept in a cold, dank building, I have no real “job” and my sixth-form, like most sixth-forms, is closed on Sundays and for some reason my friend's always seem to be trapped in horrid “family time” situations on Sundays. In fact most Sundays I simply end up lying on the couch flicking through all the crap available to me.

This Sunday I stumbled across Ice Age 2 whilst channel hopping. I contemplated my unrequited love for the first film, childish and lovable in it's nature, thoroughly enjoyable in it's intricacies. I pondered the need, or reasoning behind a sequel. I pressed the “OK” button. I'm an idiot.

Ice Age 2's plot returns to our heroes from the first film, Manny the mammoth, Sid the sloth, Diego the smilodon and the weird little squirrel thing, and introduces some new characters, Ellie the mammoth, and the opossums, Crash and Eddie. Whilst the older characters do retain some of the depth of characterisation created in the first film, the new additions to the cast of Ice Age are uninteresting and unfunny caricatures of every animated character seen in the last ten years. In an attempt to make these characters seem appealing to children, the writers have only succeeded in creating almost terrifyingly unrealistic personifications of “hip” or “cool” attitudes and destroyed the reason all animated movies exist in the first place, the ability to charm. To put it in simpler terms, it's like when Michael Jackson became white, without the child molestation.

Anyway, to return to the plot, it centres around the end of the Ice Age and Manny's romance with Ellie, whilst providing the ever-present “squirrel wants nut” gag which made the first film so quickly recognisable. Unfortunately this plot never flourishes into anything special, meaningful or touching like the first film did and ultimately fails to provide the numerous jokes that made Ice Age.

Animation and voice acting is superb throughout the film, with each cast member giving their utmost to bring the animation to life and each animator giving their utmost to bring the acting to life. The result is a pleasing mixture of sound and visual which almost makes up for the flaws in the script. Almost.

Overall, Ice Age 2 is an enjoyable film which, whilst failing to capitalise upon the originals sense of fun and meaning, provides enjoyment for all the family throughout it's running time.

7/10