Ice Age: The Meltdown (www.the-usher.com)

"The ice is melting"

Just as the herd get settled in a valley surrounded by a huge glacial wall, Manny (Romano), Diego (Leary) and Sid (Leguizamo) discover that the ice behind has actually melted and the water is about to flood the valley. So now the herd has to head to the over end of the valley and try and escape the water but as they start to travel through the herd, Manny starts to realise that he might actually be the last of the mammoths.

After the success of the first movie, Manny, Diego and Sid return to the ice tundra but is the sequel cool as ice or dripping wet?

With Pixar and DreamWorks dominating the computer animated family market, 20th Century Fox entered genre with Blue Sky Studios in 2002 with the original 'Ice Age' and a third major player was born. After the success of the first film and then 'Robots' an inevitable sequel to their first hit was always on the cards and the good news it that fans of Manny, Diego and Sid will not be disappointed.

Continuing on from the end of the first film, we find the trio have become part of the herd again and have settled in a valley surrounded by a glacial wall of ice. With all the animals realising that it is getting warmer, Manny, Diego and Sid make the discovery that surrounding ice has already melted and only the ice wall is keeping the water at bay until it starts to crack. Now they have to get to the other end of the valley and to a boat that the very hungry vulture told them about. This is when the high jinx and banter starts.

The main emphasis of the story then shifts from the travelling herd to the fact no one has seen another mammoth and Manny might actually be the last one. This is when the extinction gags start from the herd and Sid but this all stops when they run into Ellie. The only problem is that she might be the only female mammoth left but she thinks she is a possum. Even though this is a family film, the relationship between Manny and Ellie is your usual love-hate-love affair that is clearly lifted from the romantic comedy genre. This takes far too much of the story and makes Sid and Diego into supporting characters when they should have been the stars.

Diego and Sid's side stories are funny however. Diego has to face fear for the first time after been scared of nothing for the whole of his life. Sid becomes a virtual god to the rest of the sloth population because he can make fire but they take their worship slightly too far. These are funny but fans will be left wanting to see much more of them.

Returning to bring their voices to the three main characters are Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo as Manny, Diego and Sid. They are just as good as ever and continue to have fun with the characters. Ray Romano's Manny is still the father figure of the group who is struggling to come to terms with having feeling for Ellie after losing his family all those years ago. Denis Leary's Diego has settled down a lot since the last movie and become part of the herd but feeling fear for the first time has made him realise that he can actually be scared. John Leguizamo still continues to have fun as Sid. The king of the wisecracks and the one who provides most of the comedy, Sid is just as still as ever. There are also some new characters joining the trio on their travels in the shape of three possums, brothers Crash and Eddie and their sister, the rather mammoth looking Ellie. These three are voiced by Seann William Scott, Josh Peck and Queen Latifah and while they are quite fun as characters, they do receive far too much screen time to the detriment of our three heroes.

The star of the show however is still the sabre toothed squirrel rat, Scrat. This endless quest to get his hands on that precious acorn is absolutely hilarious, to the point that you could actually quite happily watch his adventures and mishaps for the entire film. His sections are like animated shorts that intercut the film and at times you do start longing for him to have more screen time, especially when the Manny/Ellie love story takes over.

'Ice Age: The Meltdown' is just as much fun as the first time. While the film does spend far too much time on the Manny and Ellie story, to the detriment of the other characters, there is still a lot to enjoy here and is great family entertainment.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented well, as you'd expect from a computer generated animated film.

BONUS FEATURES (SINGLE DISC VERSION)

'No Time for Nuts' (6.51 mins)
Watch everyone's favourite sabre toothed squirrel as he travels through time to try and keep hold of his beloved acorn in this brilliant animated short. This has all the usual Scrat humour, who is by far the best character from Ice Age, that you would expect and the madcap storyline is reminiscent of the classic Looney Toons era.

Director's Commentary
The man behind the helm of the 'Ice Age' sequel Carlos Saldanha shares his experiences of making the Meltdown. He talks about reintroducing Manny, Syd, Diego and of course Scrat and bringing in some new characters into the franchise. He also talks about how he loves the mini Scrat adventures and how he is comic relief of the movies. The technical advances since the first film are also discussed, the director provides a good single person commentary.

Crew Commentary
Producer Lori Forte, art director Thomas Cardone, materials supervisor Michael Eringis, production supervisors James Bresnaham, Galen Tan Chu, production supervisor Michael Thurmeier, effect supervisor Robert Cavaleri, light supervisor David Esneault, story supervisor Chris Renaud, lead animator Aaron J. Hartline, technical animation lead Matthew D. Simmons and senior light lead Andrew Beddin provide a more technical commentary. This is a good collective track with all the contributors providing information about how the film was made in rapid time. The Ice Age Factoid Meltdown An interactive quiz about the movie. Answer enough questions and you will help save the animals from the meltdown.

Trailers
Previews of 'Garfield 2' and 'Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Video Game Promo' Coming Soon Watch previews of 'Ice Age', 'Chicken Run', 'The Magic Roundabout', 'Robots' and 'Rhubarb and Custard Too'

OVERALL

The single disc version of 'Ice Age: The Melt Down' offers good value for those fans who don't want to know everything about film production. The commentary tracks are very good but it is the new Scrat animated short that is the highlight of this package and a must watch for all Ice Age fans.

DVD

Disc 2:
Multi-angle animation comparisons
Scrat's breaking story
Scrat news report
Scrat from head to toe
Music video from Lee Ryan
'Meet The Modeler' featurette
Outtake prank
'Making A Scene' featurette
6 Student films on the ice age period
Set-top games
Musical montage
Sound effects lab
Crash and Eddie stunts
'Voices Of Ice Age 2' featurette
Ice Age 2 international
TV special
Trailers
TV spot

Ice Age

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2006