Tampa Film Fan

film fan finding:ice age:the meltdown

If you liked the first Ice Age movie, you’ll like Ice Age:The Meltdown also. Ray Romano still voices Manny, the grumpy but good-hearted mammoth. Denis Leary is the menacing but good-hearted sabertooth tiger Diego. John Leguizamo is the wacky but good-hearted sloth Sid. This time the main characters are searching for a new home, since theirs will very soon be underwater when global warming kicks in and the ice starts melting.

During their journey, Manny finds romance, Diego faces his fear of water, and Sid temporarily becomes Sloth King (and yep, it’s hilarious). There were some great new characters (Queen Latifah was wonderful as the voice of the mammoth Ellie) and some very funny songs, but somehow it seemed a little less entertaining than the first one. A little paler, perhaps. Maybe it’s because the novelty of the characters has worn off. Maybe it’s because I kept having flashbacks of Ray Romano’s character on the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond. During Manny’s conversations with (and attempted wooing of) Ellie, I kept expecting to hear Romano’s nasally TV whine “Debra! What are you doing? C’mon Ma! Leave us alone!”

Not as good as the original, but amusing enough (with a couple of hearty laughs thrown in thanks to the character of Sid).

Film Fan Finding: B+