Chilllin’ with the third ICE AGE (review)
Jul 4th, 2009 | By Vidar Daatland | Category: Entertainment, Film, Reviews
It’s so damn hot outside I could fry an egg on the sidewalk. Luckily Sid and his gang’s back with a cool and refreshing ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS. Oh how I love word-plays. Bada-bing, bada-boom. And chances are you’ll love this film. At least you’ll get a little crush, like Scrat has in this one. Not as perfect as the first, but so much better than the previous. There’s still a lot of fun to explore in this universe and adding some dinosaurs doesn’t hurt. At least not us, the audience.
The story goes like this: Silly little Sid again causes havoc when he finds three dinosaur-eggs hidden in a cave under the ice. A bit envious of Manny, who’s expecting to become a father any day now, Sid takes the three eggs he thought was abandoned. Sid trying to raise three little dinosaurs, that’s a sight to behold. Not surprisingly mommy T-Rex dearest is not happy. After some fun and hilarious moments Manny, Diego and the rest of the gang needs to rescue Sid from angry mom with big teeth.
All about Sid
The first sequel, Ice Age: The Meltdown, was for me like Ice Age the let-down. Not a bad film, but my expectations were so high that it fell a bit flat. So I had little expectations towards this one, although the trailer looked promising. But the kids wanted to see it of course and I’m glad they dragged me along. This is a far far better film. I’m actually laughing just thinking about it.
Sid’s the star in this one. In almost every scene he’s in he does something hilarious. Moments were I laughed so hard I didn’t manage to pay attention to anything else than my acking stomach. I watched the dubbed version, in Norwegian, and it’s so perfectly done by Dagfinn Lyngbø. I’m no fan of dubbed films, but Ice Age is an exception. It’s better in Norwegian than in English.
He’s trying to be a parent in this one. It’s a nice touch, him being left by his own family in the first one. He’s a perfect parody of family life in our time. It’s smart and they throw in funny moments that really caught me by surprise, risking me to choke on popcorn and coke. It’s top notch comedy, although they probably could get more big laughs if they kept him more in the spotlight. But then again it could have killed me and thus not being able to give you this little piece to read. We wouldn’t want that, would we (don’t answer that, let me live in ignorance)?
Some minor flaws
The films “problem”, is that the rest of the “cast” can’t live up to the hilarious Sid. Diego has a rather boring story, trying to force some character development with little meaning. It’s the big thing these days, critics screaming and demanding character development in every freakin’ film. It’s beginning to get annoying, even the freakin’ nut is given a sort of personality in this one. Manny’s story feels more natural and is very touching. He’s the over-protecting dad to be, which is no surprise with his tragic back story were he lost his first girlfriend along with their child. I really liked that part, gives it all a bit of the touchy feeling from the first (which lacked in the second).
The girl or the nut. What to choose?
Oh, and the dinosaurs are done very well. It gave me a Jurassic Park-light feeling and it was pretty scary for the kids. It gave the film a level of excitement the previous lacked. And in good tradition there’s a subplot involving the squirrel in this one’s too. He finds himself in a love triangle with another squirrel and his beloved nut. Ultra-feminists will probably be provoked by that story, which for me just made it even funnier. Perfectly done parody and satire about the strong position women have in our western society (but they like to give us the impression of otherwise).
Both sound and the visual part is great. They use the “Walk the dinosaurs” song a lot, which is a bit lacking in the creativity department. I just gives me awful memories of the Super Mario Bros film from 93, were it also was used. I don’t want to be reminded of that piece of crap in a fun film like this.
The Verdict
It plays all the well known strings perfectly. It is funny, exciting and touching and introduces a couple of new faces. But it’s the old ones that brings the most fun, especially with Sid. Luckily he’s the center of the film. It gives a good closure for the series, but if they decide to make a fourth one I’ll not complain. I would look more forward to that than I did this one. This is the perfect way to chill down when the heat is killing you. Run along now, the ice age is waiting. This was a blast.
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Great review there, agree with your conclusions.
Did you watch the version in 3D or 2D? Personally saw it in 3D, not as impressive as I had hoped. A few issues with sharpness and with fast movement on screen, like the flapping of wings. This might have been a specific issue about the particular cinema though (Colosseum 1), with it’s highly curved screen.