Reviewed by Alicia Glass
Review Rating: 7
The misfit herd of mammoth, sabertooth tiger, sloth and possums return to take on the dinosaurs!
So Manny the Moody mammoth is going to be a daddy, that’s right, Ellie’s pregnant. Diego, losing his confidence as age catches up with him and his single status weighing heavily, decides to leave the herd that’s been his family for so long. And Sid, well you know Sid, he just has to go out and find some babies of his very own. What he does find is a clutch of dinosaur eggs buried in an ice cave, and attempts to be mama to them as best he can, until the real mama shows up and drags them all to the subterranean realm of the dinosaurs, where they’ve all been living with those above ground unawares. And of course Manny and the gang have to go after Sid.
It is an adorable movie, as most Ice Age movies generally are. However, there are two major problems I see. One, for those of us who loved dinosaurs when we were young (or even now) and studied them, we will see all sorts of inconsistencies in the dinosaurs portrayed in this movie, and you just have to either ignore them or take them with a grain of salt to add cuteness to the movie. And two, well, I really question the wisdom of having a pregnant mammoth run around in a movie, much less in a seriously dangerous environment where potential death lurks at every turn. Yes, I will spoil it, at some point in the movie, Ellie actually goes into labor and has the baby and then ALL of them have to escape. This will lead to all sorts of interesting questions from the seriously younger generation who adore watching the Ice Age movies, so long as you’re prepared to deal with that, fine by me.
There are many moments of adult humor without resorting to potty jokes, plenty of slapstick from the poor squirrel Scratt (who gets his own Lady in this film), and in general a heartwarming story of togetherness despite lifestyle or even species difference. And that sort of message is something we can all get behind.
Don’t mind the Dayglo-pink T-Rex, she still rocks as a mama!