29th
April, 2006
DAVID
ADAMS
Ice
Age 2: The Meltdown (G)
In a word: Warming
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"Ice
Age 2: The Meltdown doesn’t tug at the
heartstrings in the way the first one did with plotlines
relating to the loss of Manny’s family and the
interaction of man and animal, but it has some very
funny vignettes, many of which are served up by the
ever buoyant possums."
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It was always a
hard ask, following up on an animated mega-hit like 2002’s
Ice Age which worked so well on so many levels. And
while the shadow of the previous film overhangs the second
instalment, after a little bit of a jolty start as the audience
adjusts, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown flows well. The
story begins once again with Sid the sloth, Manny the mammoth
and Diego the sabre-tooth tiger (as voiced by John Leguizamo,
Ray Romano and Denis Leary) and follows their adventures as
they attempt to escape the flooding that results from global
warming melting their ice-bound habitat (one of several references
to environmental themes). Along the way they have to overcome
their fears - think of big cats and water or mammoths and
extinction - and meet some interesting new friends, a mammoth
called Ellie (voiced by Queen Latifah) who thinks she’s
a possum and two hilarious possums - Crash and Eddie (voiced
by Seann William Scott and Josh Peck) - who think she’s
their sister. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown doesn’t
tug at the heartstrings in the way the first one did with
plotlines relating to the loss of Manny’s family and
the interaction of man and animal, but it has some very funny
vignettes, many of which are served up by the ever buoyant
possums. We don’t learn anything particularly new about
the old characters apart from the fact that Diego has hydrophobia
(and seems generally a little too soft for a sabre tooth tiger)
which is perhaps a missed opportunity for the scriptwriters
but fortunately Scrat - that ill-fated tiny, squirrelly creature
who was such a hit in the first film - gets a much expanded
role as we follow his adventures in search of the ever elusive
acorns. Not able to speak (that we know of), Scrat’s
performance is sheer slap-stick animation at its best. Ice
Age 2 might not quite live up to the original - and that’s
only a might - but it’s an enjoyable, beautifully animated
and funny sequel.
SEE THE SIGHT ON THE SCREEN ARCHIVES FOR MORE...
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