Pre-dating some of the most famous
properties from both the Disney/Pixar and DreamWorks Animation libraries, the Ice Age franchise has remained a
consistently successful cinematic cash-cow ever since Manny, Sid, Diego, and
even Scrat, were first introduced to audiences in 2002. And, even though the Ice Age films have never truly been on par with some of the direct
competitors within the children’s demographic, that fact has never prevented the
individual entries from offering high levels of clever and entertaining humor. Now, the first sequel in the series (2006’s The Meltdown) might not have delivered
anything truly memorable, but I absolutely adored 2009’s Dawn of the Dinosaurs, so I was understandably thrilled when the mischievous
squirrel Scrat started showing up in short segments back in 2010, thereby
hinting at another sequel. Despite heavy
competition during the Summer Movie Season in the form of Madagascar 3 and Brave,
audiences still had high hopes for Continental
Drift, especially with the newest high-profile additions to the cast. Fully acknowledging that there wasn’t likely
to be much depth to the newest Ice Age
entry, I was still nevertheless looking forward to strong animation and
trademarked laughs.
While it may not be the biggest surprise,
it is still disappointing that Continental
Drift signifies the decline of a franchise that has finally run out of
momentum and failed to offer audiences anything new. Granted, I could watch Scrat chase after that
unobtainable acorn for hours, but with the exception of a few fleeting laughs,
the fact remains that Continental Drift
still represents a pretty big cinematic misfire that tried to borrow a little
too heavily from heretofore untouched genre norms. The most obvious shortcoming is represented
by the new characters, as even though Wanda Sykes is hysterical as Sid’s
grandmother, not one of the villainous pirates is funny nor altogether interesting;
even Jennifer Lopez wasn’t able to bring a lot to the table. The story itself also offers very little to
the overarching series, a move that is sure to have audiences questioning the overall
necessity for this sequel. So, even if
you are a fan on the Ice Age series,
there is very little to Continental Drift
to motivate an immediate trip to the theater.
Overall Recommendation: Low
