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Stitch's Movie Madness: "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs"
16 years ago
General
I’ve got an admission to make: I only saw "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" because of the dinosaurs. Much as I admire Blue Sky Studios for their technical finesse, I haven't been truly moved by anything they've done since Chris Wedge's 1998 short film "Bunny", and apart from last year's "Horton Hears a Who" their feature film output has been thoroughly underwhelming.
While it would be unfair and unreasonable to expect every CG animation company out there to deliver Pixar-level quality, I've frankly been put off by the over-reliance on forced comedy, shallow characters, instantly dated pop culture references and especially on the "haw haw, they think they're people" anthropomorphism that ditches legitimate character development in favor of crass, boorish stereotypes. It’s a reductive approach that sucks all the joy and wonder out of storytelling, focusing as it does on cheap laughs at the banality of the familiar. ("See, they're animals... but they act like an obnoxious suburban family! And their forest is like a strip mall... but with trees!")
While "Ice Age" parts 1 and 2 weren't really the worst offenders in recent memory, they could hardly be called models of exceptional storytelling (and they certainly dished out more than their fair share of fart and poop jokes, which I often find simply nauseating). While “Ice Age” part 1 was a tolerable if unremarkable bit of fluff, part 2 (“The Meltdown”) seemed to exemplify everything I dislike about the current spate of CG-animated movies... it was overstuffed with halfhearted gags, trumped-up conflict, manipulative drama and saccharine attempts at sweetness, all in the service of a story that didn’t seem to need telling. With no reason to expect a third trip to the “Ice Age” well to deliver any better, I went into “DOTD” prepared to do little more than ogle some pretty animation and cute critters.
I’m delighted to admit that I was wrong. “DOTD” isn’t just a vast improvement over the last entry in the series, it’s the best movie in the series, period. Fleet-footed and breezy where the first two were ponderous, this “Ice Age” largely jettisons clunky interspecies conflict in favor of pure adventure. Thankfully, it also tones down the cruder aspects of the humor (there’s not a single poop gag this time around), instead finding laughs in stranger and more unexpected places. Best of all, the characters (Manny the wooly mammoth, Diego the sabertooth tiger, Sid the sloth, Manny’s mate Ellie and her two opossum “brothers” Crash and Eddie) finally grow out of their shallow archetypes and are allowed to carry the story based on the strength of their newly-appealing personalities... this may be part 3, but it feels like the first time we’ve actually gotten to know (and be charmed by) this motley band of critters.
It helps tremendously that our prehistoric heroes are joined this time around by a new character named Buck, a half-crazy weasel with a makeshift eyepatch, a charming Brit accent (delivered with panache by Simon Pegg), a swashbuckler’s sense of derring-do, and an unnatural fondness for pineapples. Zipping, dashing and soaring his way through this film’s dinosaur-filled jungle underworld like a screws-loose Errol Flynn, Buck is an appealingly eccentric character who anchors the story even as he propels it forward.
The other critters also fare well this time around. Manny (Ray Romano), who made for a somewhat bland hero in the last two outings, is finally given some legitimately funny and affecting moments, while mother-to-be Ellie (Queen Latifah, one of the few bright spots in part 2) continues to be a charmingly comic presence. Diego (Denis Leary) is still underwritten, but at least he’s given more to do this time around, and his role as protector/nursemaid to Ellie pays off brightly in one of the film’s funnier scenes. It’s Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), though, who surprisingly has the most complex and touching arc... he’s still largely the series’ furry punching bag, but “DOTD” does slow down long enough to give him several warmly poignant moments as he attempts (in his own clumsy way) to raise a trio of newly-hatched dinosaurs as his own. Heck, even Crash and Eddie (Seann William Scott and Josh Beck), two “x-treme” characters I hated in part 2, have been pleasantly dialed back this time around... not only are they significantly less obnoxious, but their hero-worship of Buck is genuinely sweet.
Floating around in a sort of perpetual side story is sabertoothed squirrel Scrat (whose high-pitched grunts, whiffles and screams are again provided by Blue Sky head honcho Chris Wedge). Once more struggling to maintain possession of his beloved acorn, Scrat’s turmoil is compounded by the arrival of a female of his species, who (yawn) uses her feminine charms to foil him at every turn. The story fortunately ditches their battle of the sexes just as it starts to go completely stale, spinning it sideways into more bizarre territory.
The big addition to the “Ice Age” universe this time around, of course, are the dinosaurs, and thankfully what could have been a clichéd gimmick is instead a welcome burst of invention that gives the series a much-needed boost. The film’s subterranean saurian world is a lush wonder to behold, a Jules Verne-esque playground of vast waterfalls, twisting chasms, verdant jungle and crimson lava flows. While it may be anachronistic in the extreme, it’s so imaginatively rendered that it’s hardly a detriment. Besides, those baby t-rexes Sid ends up with are nothing less than adorable.
Bright, charming, fast-paced and often truly funny, “Ice Age 3” may not be a masterpiece along the lines of “Ratatouille” or “Wall-E”, but it is a lot of fun, and easily as good as the first two “Ice Age” films put together. Also, if you can swing the extra bucks for the glasses, be sure and catch it in 3D... with its gorgeous visual palette, snappy action setpieces and cleverly choreographed sight gags, “DOTD” puts the format to especially good use.
While it would be unfair and unreasonable to expect every CG animation company out there to deliver Pixar-level quality, I've frankly been put off by the over-reliance on forced comedy, shallow characters, instantly dated pop culture references and especially on the "haw haw, they think they're people" anthropomorphism that ditches legitimate character development in favor of crass, boorish stereotypes. It’s a reductive approach that sucks all the joy and wonder out of storytelling, focusing as it does on cheap laughs at the banality of the familiar. ("See, they're animals... but they act like an obnoxious suburban family! And their forest is like a strip mall... but with trees!")
While "Ice Age" parts 1 and 2 weren't really the worst offenders in recent memory, they could hardly be called models of exceptional storytelling (and they certainly dished out more than their fair share of fart and poop jokes, which I often find simply nauseating). While “Ice Age” part 1 was a tolerable if unremarkable bit of fluff, part 2 (“The Meltdown”) seemed to exemplify everything I dislike about the current spate of CG-animated movies... it was overstuffed with halfhearted gags, trumped-up conflict, manipulative drama and saccharine attempts at sweetness, all in the service of a story that didn’t seem to need telling. With no reason to expect a third trip to the “Ice Age” well to deliver any better, I went into “DOTD” prepared to do little more than ogle some pretty animation and cute critters.
I’m delighted to admit that I was wrong. “DOTD” isn’t just a vast improvement over the last entry in the series, it’s the best movie in the series, period. Fleet-footed and breezy where the first two were ponderous, this “Ice Age” largely jettisons clunky interspecies conflict in favor of pure adventure. Thankfully, it also tones down the cruder aspects of the humor (there’s not a single poop gag this time around), instead finding laughs in stranger and more unexpected places. Best of all, the characters (Manny the wooly mammoth, Diego the sabertooth tiger, Sid the sloth, Manny’s mate Ellie and her two opossum “brothers” Crash and Eddie) finally grow out of their shallow archetypes and are allowed to carry the story based on the strength of their newly-appealing personalities... this may be part 3, but it feels like the first time we’ve actually gotten to know (and be charmed by) this motley band of critters.
It helps tremendously that our prehistoric heroes are joined this time around by a new character named Buck, a half-crazy weasel with a makeshift eyepatch, a charming Brit accent (delivered with panache by Simon Pegg), a swashbuckler’s sense of derring-do, and an unnatural fondness for pineapples. Zipping, dashing and soaring his way through this film’s dinosaur-filled jungle underworld like a screws-loose Errol Flynn, Buck is an appealingly eccentric character who anchors the story even as he propels it forward.
The other critters also fare well this time around. Manny (Ray Romano), who made for a somewhat bland hero in the last two outings, is finally given some legitimately funny and affecting moments, while mother-to-be Ellie (Queen Latifah, one of the few bright spots in part 2) continues to be a charmingly comic presence. Diego (Denis Leary) is still underwritten, but at least he’s given more to do this time around, and his role as protector/nursemaid to Ellie pays off brightly in one of the film’s funnier scenes. It’s Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), though, who surprisingly has the most complex and touching arc... he’s still largely the series’ furry punching bag, but “DOTD” does slow down long enough to give him several warmly poignant moments as he attempts (in his own clumsy way) to raise a trio of newly-hatched dinosaurs as his own. Heck, even Crash and Eddie (Seann William Scott and Josh Beck), two “x-treme” characters I hated in part 2, have been pleasantly dialed back this time around... not only are they significantly less obnoxious, but their hero-worship of Buck is genuinely sweet.
Floating around in a sort of perpetual side story is sabertoothed squirrel Scrat (whose high-pitched grunts, whiffles and screams are again provided by Blue Sky head honcho Chris Wedge). Once more struggling to maintain possession of his beloved acorn, Scrat’s turmoil is compounded by the arrival of a female of his species, who (yawn) uses her feminine charms to foil him at every turn. The story fortunately ditches their battle of the sexes just as it starts to go completely stale, spinning it sideways into more bizarre territory.
The big addition to the “Ice Age” universe this time around, of course, are the dinosaurs, and thankfully what could have been a clichéd gimmick is instead a welcome burst of invention that gives the series a much-needed boost. The film’s subterranean saurian world is a lush wonder to behold, a Jules Verne-esque playground of vast waterfalls, twisting chasms, verdant jungle and crimson lava flows. While it may be anachronistic in the extreme, it’s so imaginatively rendered that it’s hardly a detriment. Besides, those baby t-rexes Sid ends up with are nothing less than adorable.
Bright, charming, fast-paced and often truly funny, “Ice Age 3” may not be a masterpiece along the lines of “Ratatouille” or “Wall-E”, but it is a lot of fun, and easily as good as the first two “Ice Age” films put together. Also, if you can swing the extra bucks for the glasses, be sure and catch it in 3D... with its gorgeous visual palette, snappy action setpieces and cleverly choreographed sight gags, “DOTD” puts the format to especially good use.
For example, imagine a movie called "Squirrels", which would be all about a society of intelligent squirrels living out in a forest (there's no such movie, but bear with me). You could do one of two things with that kind of premise: 1) You could spin a fantastical yarn that explores in an imaginative fashion what life would be like as a squirrel... how they live, what their history is like, how their society is structured, what they think of each other, what kind of foods they like to eat, how they interact with their world, etc. 2) You could make daddy squirrel a big doofus who takes his kids camping, yells a lot about "turning this acorn around if you kids don't shut up", farts a lot, and bickers with his wife.
Personally, I'd prefer to see a bit more of option 1... but of course it's a lot easier to write option 2, and probably a much safer investment if you're a big-time producer.
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