ICE AGE: MELTDOWN
US, 2006, 100 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Dennis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah, Will Arnett, Jay Leno, Chris Wedge.
Directed by Carlos Saldanha.
The characters in Ice Age turned out to be endearing and popular. Here they are, four years on. What has advanced during the four years is both the technical know-how that can bring greater detail to the computergraphics of the characters and their interactions as well as more vivid action sequences as well as the onset of global warming. As in the 21st century, the world is moving towards meltdown.
So, Ice Age is now serving as an entertaining and alerting fable about the consequences of the warming of the world.
Manny, the lone Mammoth (voiced by Everybody Loves Raymond’s Ray Romano), Sid, the would-be famous Sloth (voiced by John Leguizamo) and Diego, the tooth-capped and ironic sabre tiger (voiced by Denis Leary) decide that they had better join all the animals in their trek to find a boat that will save them from the dam-burst that will flood their valley. So, it’s a journey movie and a quest, an inner journey and quest – one can safely say this because Sloth, for one, is into pop psychological observations, especially about Diego’s fear of water because he can’t swim. But, Diego gets the opportunity to be heroic about this. Sloth gets to be heroic, because in his dreams and in reality, he is mistaken for a mythical hero (and does not mind in the least).
And what does Manny find? Ellie, a beautiful mammoth (voiced by Queen Latifah) who thinks that all mammoths are extinct and that she is, in fact, a possum, like her two mischievous brothers. Will they find true love? Will the mammoths avoid extinction – well, in the short term anyway?
The dialogue is witty. The circling vultures break out into Food, Glorious Food. And there is a great deal of physical comedy. Oh, and what about Scrat, who started it all rumbling last time when he tried to retrieve his acorn? He is now a star of the show. His opening attempts to get the acorn are hilarious and this continues right to the end (including a detour into acorn heaven to the strains of Katchaturian’s Spartacus!).
Even better than the original.
1.The popularity of the original film? Its setting, characters, humour? Issues? The popularity of this sequel – even better?
2.The title, the focus on meltdown, the issue of global warming? A fable for younger audiences about the consequences of global warming?
3.The animation style, the computer graphics? The world of ice, beyond the world of ice, mountains, valleys, vegetation? The attention to the detail of the characters, their interactions? Action, humour, emotions? Scrat and his continued quest for the acorn?
4.The quality of the voices, their fitting the characters, the emotions, the humour?
5.The popular story: meltdown, the strange family of Manny, Sid and Diego? Listening to Fast Tony and his talking about the end of the world? The information about the melting ice, the threat of the dam bursting, the flooding of the valley? The dangers and their decision to go with the animals on the quest? The long journey, the perils? Meeting Elly and the possums? The vultures following them? The struggles? The achievement? The human spirit – and dramatised through the animal kingdom?
6.The theme of the melting, the water, the threat to the animals, death, the vultures and the animals as their prey? (And the film alleviating the threat by the vultures singing ‘Food, Glorious Food’?)
7.Scrat and his story, from the first film? The humour of the opening, the acorn, his quest? The splitting of the ice? His continued adventures right throughout the film? The various devices to keep him in pursuit of the acorn, his losing it, the vulture’s next and the young vulture threatening him, his impossible falls? His tongue sticking to the ice? His using his legs on the cliff? The final in Heaven with the golden gates, the golden acorn – and the themes from Katchaturian and Spartacus? His being dragged back to life by Sid?
8.Manny, the lone mammoth, sad and wise, his size, helping the others? Diego and his losing his edge as a sabre-tooth tiger? His comments to Sid, the sarcasm? His inner fears, the water, his avoiding it, Sid pushing him in, his not being able to swim, his finally saving the animals and the pride in swimming? Sid as the sloth? His humour, slippery? His psychology, his psychological comments about journeys and inner quests? His dream, the sloths worshipping him? The sloths admiring him in real life and his enjoying this? Together as an odd family on the quest?
9.The opening at the summer camp, Sid and the kids persecuting him? The speeches of Fast Tony and his warnings, his escaping with everyone else? The end of the world? Jay Leno and his humorous voice and patter? The decisions of all the animals to go, searching for the boat?
10.The encounter with Elly, hanging in the tree, falling out, thinking she was a possum, thinking mammoths were extinct? Her relationship with the two possums? Crash and Eddie and their continued pranks and mischief? Their loving Elly as a possum? Together, the need for help, continuing with Manny and the family? The dangers, Elly and her being trapped in the cave? Manny getting her out? In the water, the possums and Diego saving them? Diego and Sid and their matchmaking, Manny in denial, irritated with Elly, arguing with her? The true romance? The change, experiencing the dangers? A happy ending?
11.The fish, their threat, their pursuit of the animals, the fights?
12.The vultures, sinister – and ‘Food, Glorious Food’?
13.The success of the trek? The success of the film? Pleasing for children, pleasing for adults?
