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Ice Age

Ice Age

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $14.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: cute kid's show
Review: While Ice Age does have adult themes running through it (and a few adult jokes), it doesn't have the broad appeal that you find with Shrek, Toy Story, or Monsters, Inc. But it is a good movie to sit down with the whole family to watch. There's little violence and no sexual content. The animation is a little cartoony--but the animators aren't shooting for realistic here, they are looking for more of a 'Shrek' type look. It has its charm. It does have a strong cast. I'd never have pictured Ray Romano as a mammoth, but his dead pan delivery does fit well with the personality of a gigantic mammoth. Dennis Leary plays the saber-tooth tiger, but holding Leary back to a PG rating takes away from his appeal. Still, he does a fairly good job with what he has, and the funniest moments in the movie come from his interaction with John Leguizamo, who is brilliant as the sloth. Cedric the Entertainer, Jack Black, and Gorin Visjnic (casting him as the leader of the tigers was a stroke of genius, I wish there had been more scenes featuring him) have small supporting roles. The dvd contains all kinds of extras, but it is the short animation 'Bunny' that really makes this dvd worth buying (and the cave painting scene in the movie). You can see the animators genius there. This isn't a dvd you want to rush out to buy, but one you might want to put on your list of dvds to get.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sub-Zero Heroes
Review: Get ready to "chill-out" with the "cool" animated family hit "Ice Age". During the great migration, a moody mammoth (Ray Romano), a dim-witted sloth (John Leguizamo) and a devilish sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) become the unlikely guardians of a lost human child. Together, they will embark on a journey across icy glaciers and countless dangers to return the child to his tribe. "Ice Age" is a remarkably entertaining family spectacle that's full of comic energy. The story is fast-paced, hilarious and heartfelt. The movie contains some funny moments and memorable characters. Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo deliver some fine comic performances. The CGI animation is stunning with impressive lifelike landscapes.

The "Ice Age" DVD succeeds any previous Fox DVD. Presented in both full screen and widescreen formats, the DVD contains flawless picture quality with excellent sharpness and color detail. The 5.1 digital sound is engaging and very well executed. This 2-disc special edition DVD contains a wide range of supplemental extras including filmmakers' commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scene featurettes, trailers, multiple audio options, and the new animated short "Scrat's Missing Adventure". Overall, this DVD scores an "A".

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not cute enough, not compelling enough, not funny enough
Review: Ice Age had the unfortunate timing to be released at the same time as Monsters, Inc. The plots are quite similar: creatures whose livelihood depends on their conflict with humanity accidentally acquire a human child and must return him or her to his home. Monsters, Inc. does it better.

That said, Ice Age tries very hard, and I found myself unwilling to brush it off as just a cheap version of Monsters, Inc. The animation isn't as good. The voice acting isn't as good. The script isn't as punchy or funny. And John Leguizamo is, if this is possible, even more annoying as a sloth.

The animation is good enough to make the characters look like muppets but not so good that you're really drawn into the movie. There are moments of ice reflection and water rippling that scream, "LOOK AT HOW COOL OUR ANIMATION IS" -- and they are oddly disjointed from the rest of the movie's cartoony animation. To Monsters, Inc.'s credit, you never stop and gawk at the graphics in the background even though they're vivid and colorful.

Surprisingly, the best voice acting comes from Ray Romano, of Everybody Loves Raymond fame. His brooding mammoth is compelling and a little sad. There's also a funny ice slide scene that's entertaining. There are also some very sad moments, like when the mammoth stares at a cave painting and relives the death of his family. Which explains why a mammoth is willing to take care of a "pink thing" (the baby) and return him to his family.

And yet, Ice Age does not act on the strength of its convictions. In Monsters, Inc. when the bad guys are acting bad -- they're really bad. They mean to do bad things to children and even though they never pull it off, the audience is afraid that it will actually happen. In Ice Age, the threats should be twice as realistic. Although the movie actually has more violence and danger, it ultimately cops out: the mother of the baby just disappears into a fast moving stream (off camera, no less). Diego, the sabretoothed tiger who realizes he likes his new friends more than his own pack, seems to die and then -- SURPRISE! -- limps onto the scene at the end of the movie to joins his new "herd." Ugh.

In short, Ice Age is a first time effort for a production house that's not as mature as Pixar. Not cute enough, not compelling enough, not funny enough. But close.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A safe spend of your rental dollars
Review: Just finished watching this movie and overall, I will say that it is worth your rental dollars...IF you can't find something else to rent.

The plot has been described many times over here, so I will just do a quick recap of the goods and bad:

GOOD:

Will keep the kids entertained
Animated to keep the kids entertained
Amazing graphics
Humorous in spots

BAD

Probably won't keep the adults entertained
Slow moving in some places
Frankly, just not much too see

My kids loved it, I really could have gone either way. I wouldn't buy the DVD since there really isn't anything special that would warrant my hard earned cash on the DVD.

This was a rental for my kids, and it served it's purpose to keep them entertained. Although, I'm still trying to figure out why this was rated PG...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Yet Another Great Animated Kid¿s Comedy
Review: In the grand tradition of great prehistoric kids movies like "The Land Before Time" and "Dinosaur," "Ice Age" is yet another great comedy-adventure appropriate for the kids and the whole family.

THE STORY:

As the title implies, set in the Ice Age, Manfred the Woolly-Mammoth (voiced by "Everybody Loves" Ray Romano) Sid the Tree-Sloth (voiced by John Leguizamo) along with unlikely travel partner Diego the Saber-Toothed Tiger (voiced by Dennis Leary), find a lost human baby and endure the harsh weather conditions and assorted weird (and sometimes dangerous) creatures of the Paleolithic world as they attempt to reunite the baby with its human family (who maybe even more dangerous to them than their harsh environment).

THE COOL THINGS:

In all, if you're a fan of pre-history or the Discovery Channel you'll get to see tons of really cool prehistoric animals like mammoths, sloths, early Rhinos, sabretooths, dodos, other assorted cool animals as well early homo erectus man.

In addition to seeing the wonders of the early earth (including all the glaciers and volcanoes), the story itself is pretty touching as well as the cast of characters learn the value of family and friendship.

Like most kid's movies of late, slapstick as well as other forms of comedy abound in this movie as the unlikely and wacky cast of characters make their way around coming across tons of hilarious situations including a flock of weird do-dos and a down on his luck little critter.

WARNINGS:

Pre-historic earth, while wondrous, has its share of dangers. There are a few violent scenes (mild) that may be a little much for some of the younger kids including some vicious saber-tooths and (*GASP*) some equally violent human hunters.

THE VERDICT:

Overall though, you can't go wrong with this one. Much like others in this genre like Shrek, Monter's Inc, and the Land Before Time, the nice story combined with lovable characters and off-beat comedy is sure to be a winner with all viewers. Whether you're a family with young children, a couple out on a date of just friends catching a movie, this movie should please.

Highly Recommended

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: very cute, and the squirrel is a riot!
Review: A film by Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha

The first hint I had of what "Ice Age" would be was a preview long before the movie ever came out. The preview featured a squirrel trying to bury an acorn in the snow, but nothing was working and in the attempt to bury the acorn, the poor little squirrel inadvertently caused an avalanche. It was funny, and it was the one of the best previews that I had seen. Fortunately, this squirrel makes several appearances throughout "Ice Age" and steals every scene that he appears in (which is saying something for a piece of animation). However, the main story of the film has nothing to do with the squirrel.

A pack of saber tooth tigers are seeking to attack a human settlement in revenge for some of their own being killed by human hunters. The plan is to take the human baby of the lead hunter. The tigers attack, but the baby's mother manages to escape and dives into the river. With her last breath the mother places the baby at the feet of a mastodon who is standing by the riverbank.

This much is still set up for the primary story being told, and that is the story of Manfred the mastodon (Ray Romano) and Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo). Since the world is in the middle of an ice age, the animals are migrating south to get out of the cold. Manfred is initially going north to get away from everyone else when he comes upon Sid. Sid was left behind and he also needs protection. He's a sloth, but rather than being exceptionally slow, he appears to be more clumsy than anything else. The two animals end up traveling together (over the objections of the mastodon), and it is then that they come across the human baby. Manfred is ready to leave the baby behind, but Sid insists on keeping the child until they can find another human settlement. Enter Diego (Denis Leary). Diego is a saber tooth tiger who has been sent by his pack to reclaim the human baby as revenge for the pack. Even a tiger fears to go up against a mastodon, so Diego pretends to have the best interests of the baby at heart and now we have the rather strange group of Manfred, Sid, and Diego all trying to return the baby (except for Diego, who is only pretending).

"Ice Age" is a very cute movie, suitable for children of all ages. It is funny at times (any time the squirrel gets to make an appearance is a highlight for me), and it should be enjoyable for children and adults. Excellent animation and excellent voice acting. "Ice Age" is a good movie that should not be overlooked (even though it was overlooked in the theatre because of Pixar's "Monsters Inc").

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sub-Zero Heroes
Review: Get ready to "chill-out" with the "cool" animated family hit "Ice Age". During the great migration, a moody mammoth (Ray Romano), a dim-witted sloth (John Leguizamo) and a devilish sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) become the unlikely guardians of a lost human child. Together, they will embark on a journey across icy glaciers and countless dangers to return the child to his tribe. "Ice Age" is a remarkably entertaining family spectacle that's full of comic energy. The story is fast-paced, hilarious and heartfelt. The movie contains some funny moments and memorable characters. Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo deliver some fine comic performances. The CGI animation is stunning with impressive lifelike landscapes.

The "Ice Age" DVD succeeds any previous Fox DVD. Presented in both full screen and widescreen formats, the DVD contains flawless picture quality with excellent sharpness and color detail. The 5.1 digital sound is engaging and very well executed. This 2-disc special edition DVD contains a wide range of supplemental extras including filmmakers' commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scene featurettes, trailers, multiple audio options, and the new animated short "Scrat's Missing Adventure". Overall, this DVD scores an "A".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Heartfelt and really charming movie.
Review: This CGI computer animated movie called "Ice Age" is really funny and also very well done.

It all takes place during the Ice Age when the glaciers have advanced southwards and taken over much of the North American landscapes. An eskimo baby is lost however when it's mother falls down a waterfall and is found by a mastodon and Sloth and is taken care of until it's father can find it. Meanwhile a band of vicious sabretooth tigers are aiming to kill the villages people when one of them is separated and is befriended by the mastodon and Sloth and now the three try to bring the baby back before the ringleader of the sabretooth band get to him.

This movie is really funny and is a classic. The extras on the DVD are also really cool. My favorite is the quiz where the squirrel like creature must find his acorn or other wise falls to the booby traps. My favorite is when he falls into the hole when you get the wrong answer. Most of the extras are more kid-oriented but even adults might find them to be fun to play with. :-) Get this DVD. It's worth your time and money even if this movie isn't the best in this genre.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Ice Age
Review: Ice Age starts with the famous and lovable Scrat, and the acorn he loves so much, and he steals the show through the rest of the movie, and he luckily doesn't talk.
The character animation could had been better, but the art direction, the humor and the effects are nice, while Scrat, Sid, Diego and Manny are both memorable and lovable.
There is not too much violence, but the dirty humor and the sad scenes marks the PG rating.
Beside the Oscar nomination for best animated feature do I think that Ice Age deserved nominations for best art direction, best visual effects, best song and best score.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun Flick For All Ages
Review: "Ice Age" seems to get lots of comparison to movies like "Shrek" and "Monsters, Inc." in many reviews, but it's not a Mike Myers flick nor a Disney movie. It might be computer animated like them but that is where similarities end. "Ice Age" is more family friendly than "Shrek" and has moments just as, if not more, funny than "Monsters, Inc." The animation is visually stunning, especially in the opening when the iceberg begins "chasing" the "Scrat."

The cast is standout. Ray Romano is cast as "Manfred." Like another reviewer I was a little skeptical of his playing the role of a mammoth, but he pulls it off brilliantly. John Leguizamo played "Sid," and proves once again that he can play just about any character. He is non-stop comedy animated through this entire flick. Denis Leary is fine as "Diego," who undergoes changes through the whole movie. There is a very touching scene with him near the end of this movie that almost made me tear up.

This movie isn't too violent. There was no bloodshed viewed onscreen, and the animation actually softens up the battle between the humans and the sabre-toothed tigers. It's funny how such a rigid animation style makes battle sequences look less violent than they are. There are plenty of funny moments for the little ones, especially with "Scrat." The writing is intelligent, fun and none too boring for adults. Overall, this is a fun family movie.

Cast your ideas of what an animated feature should be out the door and watch this movie for its great storyline, brilliant animation and touching characters. It's a good addition to your DVD collection.


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