If you saw Shrek and Monsters Inc., then you’ve already seen IceAge, a new computer-animated movie hitting theaters this Friday.Similar in humor, storyline and even animation style, theevolutionary cartoon seems to be its own scientific divergence of thetwo computer-animated box office hits released last year.
Ice Age, a Blue Sky and Fox Studios production, tells the story ofa recalcitrant woolly mammoth named Manfred (voiced by Ray Romano),who prefers to venture the cold and icy planes of the earth alonerather than migrate to warmer climates with the rest of the herd.
Manfred is joined by Sid (John Leguizamo), a fast-talking littlesloth he unintentionally saved in the beginning of the movie. Acranky, overgrown brute forced to journey with an annoying littlewimp — sound familiar?
TheShrek-like storyline then takes a sudden turn and jumps into aMonsters Inc.-like plot by giving the oddball dynamic duo the task oftaking care of a “miniature human” they find along their way. Settingout on a subzero mission to return the “pink thing” back to its pack,Manfred and Sid meet Diego (Denis Leary), a conniving saber-toothedtiger who accompanies them with a hidden agenda to turn the littlebaby into kitty chow. Together, this motley crew of evolutionarymisfits ventures out into the freezing cold, facing whatever oddsnature throws at it.
Though obvious and abundant, the commonalities between Ice Age andlast year’s computer-animated hits are of little importance to theaudience Fox has set out to capture for this factory-produced film.Unlike the producers of Shrek, Fox chooses to target an adolescentaudience: moviegoers who will laugh so long as the words “poop” or”weenie” are mentioned every so often.
The original version of Ice Age included inside jokes for older(though probably no more mature) kids to enjoy. These grown-upgoodies were cut from final production because they were deemed byFox as being too violent for the virgin eyes and ears of our innocentyouth.
With this in mind, Ice Age proves to be the perfect kiddie movie.Though the plot is unoriginal and highly predictable, its story isstill heart-felt, making it an ideal movie to take the kids to see.Its recycled jokes about frozen boogers and flying diapers are boundto have them laughing until the popcorn’s all over the floor and sodasquirts out of their noses.
