AmateurMovieReviews.com

By Christina VanGinkel

My family saw Ice Age, the animated adventure, when it first hit the big screen. All of us, kids and adults, could hardly wait for it to be released on DVD so that we could further enjoy this family style comedy whenever we felt like it. Little did I know that when our young grandson came for a visit when he was just barely two years old, that he would fall so in love with the characters, that we would end up sending him home with our copy.
However, it did not take us long to go and purchase a replacement. We ended up missing it so much that we just had to buy another copy, this for a household where two adults and one teenager live.

When there is nothing good on television, and we just want to grab something that we know, all of us will enjoy and get a couple of laughs from at the same time, we pop in Ice age. If we have company and a little one or two are with, and we want to keep the television viewing suitable for all, we will automatically grab this show.

Ice Age tells the story of three unlikely comrades. A wooly mammoth that goes by the name of Manny, a sloth named Sid, and the saber toothed tiger Diego. There is a fourth character, a nut stashing squirrel, but I do not know if he would be considered a main character as most of his interaction in the show is with his nut and not the other main characters.

The beginning of the show actually starts with the squirrel as he attempts to hide his nut with hilarious and unbelievable results. The main story line though revolves around the other three, Manny, Sid, and Diego. The ice age is in full swing, and as the animals begin their migrations, Sid the sloth finds himself seeking help from an unlikely hero, the one and only Manny, a wooly mammoth. When the two come across a human infant, left abandoned when a pack of saber tooth tigers attack his family, the two unlikely friends take it upon themselves to return the little person to his herd. Enter Diego, one of the very saber tooth tigers that caused all the problems in the first place. First disguising his real reasons for wanting to help them return the baby, he soon ends up on their side, going against everything, and everyone, he has up to this point considered his family. The ending is a good-natured look at how things could be if everyone would just learn to get along.

Ice Age is rated PG for mild peril, but I cannot think of anything that even the youngest viewer would have a problem with, save for a tender hearted person who might be a bit upset when baby goes flying down an ice slide, (actually quite fun looking the way they put the whole scene together!). Some might also be a bit apprehensive when Sid, Manny, and Diego with baby in tow must traverse a hot lava field. Still, it is by far the best, animated film I have yet to see, save for maybe part two, Ice Age, the Meltdown. In comparison, The Meltdown is about equal when it comes to laughs and watch-ability! The Meltdown has yet to be released on DVD though, so for now, any in home viewing of these two sure to be classics, must end with the choice of the first Ice Age. (Watch for the release of Ice Age, The Meltdown on DVD towards the end of November 2006.)

Ice Age stars many voices of well-known actors, and this might have played a part in its popularity when it was first released, though its storyline and animation is what made it into the great show that it is. Manny, the wooly mammoth is brought to life with the voice of everybody's favorite, Ray Romano. Diego, the saber tooth tiger that goes over to the good side is really the voice of Denis Leary. Sid, my personal favorite in the show is transformed into the fun loving sloth that he is with the voice John Leguizamo.