The third in the Ice Age
franchise is beautifully designed and animated, but has been leeched
of much of its predecessors' charm, which has been replaced with a
trite, silly sitcom plot. Running out of gags and ideas, Ice
Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs relies only somewhat on past successes
while spinning a story that puts suspension of disbelief to a test, even
for an animated film.
As the mammoths Manny and Ellie
(Ray Romano and Queen Latifah) prepare for the arrival of their baby,
the saber-toothed tiger Diego (Denis Leary) begins to feel his age and
decides to leave the "herd." Feeling left out, Sid the sloth
(John Leguizamo) decides to hatch his own family from a trio of eggs
he finds hidden in a crevasse. They hatch, and Sid finds himself
raising three baby T-Rexes. Their mother, however, returns and
seizes them, along with Sid. The herd gives chase and winds up
in a vast underground cavern - a Doyle-inspired "lost world" of dinosaurs. There, they team up with a one-eyed weasel called
Buckminster (Simon Pegg) and face a series of challenges in rescuing
Sid and getting back to the surface alive. Through all of this,
of course, is the saber-toothed squirrel Scrat, forever chasing the
elusive acorn, only this time a female of his species complicates matters.
I don't have strong negative feelings
about Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The movie was neither
dull nor offensive. But before I elaborate on what I liked about
it, I must say that my overall reaction was benign disappointment. The
first two films maintained a consistent cleverness and only a minimal
reliance upon television-grade jokes and middle-class morality.
Here, there is an overriding laziness haunting the whole picture -
hearing Ray Romano bitch about married life here sounds out of place, as
if the audio from Romano's tedious television program is being recycled.
The entire plotline resembles that of a generic sitcom episode, and
the imposition of that sensibility upon the world of the Ice Age
series - a world founded upon an improvisational feel, and a sense
of unpredictability and adventure - made me extremely uneasy.
Beyond this there is the unavoidable
fact that mammoths and saber-toothed tigers did not cohabitate with
dinosaurs in any prehistoric epoch. I know this movie is mainly
for kids, and I know it's a cartoon. I also realize that the
conceit in Dawn of the Dinosaurs is that of the aforementioned
"lost world." But the first two Ice Age films were
true to the era they sought to depict from a zoological and botanical
point of view; research was obviously conducted and care taken to depict
animals contemporaneous to a particular time and place.
Dawn of the Dinosaurs abandons that conscientiousness and opts for
the easy way out. It's like someone said, "Fuck it.
If it was good enough for The Flintstones, it's good enough
for us."
As I said, there is still plenty
to admire about the series' third entry. For one, the animation
is outstanding, even improving upon the first two. You can
almost feel the incredibly complete textures of the creatures' skin
and fur. The backgrounds are beautifully designed. The animals'
motion is captured with a convincing fluidity that can only be compared
to that in Bambi. And, the movie has plenty of laughs,
most of which come from the misadventures of Scrat and, as she's called
in the credits, Scratte. Their antics comprise some of the most
entertaining and inventive animation in the feature, and I suspect that
Scrat's silent film-like struggles for the ever-unattainable acorn
are the primary source of the series' ongoing success.
To use the old SAT formulation, Scrat:Ice Age::Urkel:Family
Matters.
Simon Pegg's Buckminster
is the most enjoyable of the new characters. Although Buck is
very much an animated version of Captain Jack Sparrow, Pegg's performance
adds nuances and wit to the tale-spinning weasel's flea-bitten countenance.
The characters of the herd seem to be going through the motions here
and frankly are not a source of much humor or interest. The thoroughly
domestic Manny and Ellie have grown boring, just as we all do when kids
enter the picture. Sid's familial ambitions are trite, and Diego
fears aging. They make for a dull quartet, and only Scrat, Scratte,
and Buck prevent them from sinking the film.
The DVD
The Video and Audio
I cannot definitively comment
on the technical aspects of this release, because Fox has done it again
and sent unfinished screeners. The transfer is certainly anamorphic
at 1.78:1, but it was marred by several sequences that suffered from
some intense pixilation. The 5.1 audio seems fine, but since this
is not the final product, one can't be sure.
The Extras
Fox sent two discs, and I've
compared the content with that of the various releases for the film,
and I cannot for the life of me determine which edition this content
corresponds to. Diligent readers may be able to lend a hand, but
for now I'll just list the features included herewith.
Disc One contains a
rather self-congratulatory commentary track featuring director
Carlos Saldanha and a host of animators and crew. There are also
a handful of trailers.
Disc Two contains a
lot of features, most of which are fairly short, and almost all of which
revolve around Scrat. Scrat Shorts
comprise two short subjects: Gone Nutty
- Scrat's Missing Adventure (4:59) and No Time for Nuts
(7:07). The Saber Toothed Squirrel: Nature's Nutty Buddy
(1:48) is an amusing faux educational film. Scrat: From Head
to Toe (Learn How to Draw Scrat - Tutorial!) (8:22) is exactly
what it sounds like, with video input from the animators. Two
promotional pieces, cast as fake news stories, are next: Scrat:
"Breaking Story" (1:50) and Scrat:
"News Report" (2.29).
Fox Movie Channel presents
Making a Scene (9:09) is an EPK-type piece. Falling for
Scratte (8:29) details the development of Scrat's female foil.
Buck: From Easel to Weasel (7:11) traces the creation of Dawn
of the Dinosaurs' most engaging character. Unearthing
the Lost World (8:40) is possibly the most interesting extra, in
which members of the production crew discuss the design of the film.
Walk the Dinosaur (1:31) is a "music video" made up of film
clips. In addition to this, there are a few DVD-ROM games for
the kids.
Final
Thoughts
The third Ice Age film feels a bit repetitive and stale,
even though things are enlivened by fine design and animation, as well
as a couple of engaging new characters. For kids, this is great
stuff, hands down, and will certainly make for an entertaining evening
at home. I don't feel any certainty about the technical aspects
of this release, nor am I clear on which bonus content is intended for
which edition. Therefore, I can only recommend that you rent
it.
Casey Burchby is a writer and editor who lives in San Jose, CA.
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