The Ice Age franchise, now roughly 15 years old, started with the journey of Manny, Sid and Diego rescuing a human infant back in 2002. Since then, these mammals have been subjected to a meltdown, a dinosaur invasion, and a continental drift. By then, you'd think it'd be best for the gang to resume their peaceful off-screen lives until their extinction, but no, Blue Sky Studios draws one last breath from its cash-cow franchise. Tagged as the fifth and "defining" chapter of the series, Ice Age: Collision Course, sadly, unlike good wine, does not age well. What was fun a decade ago is now quickly losing its appeal. While kids will still probably enjoy this, not everyone buys that mediocrity can be casually brushed off because it is intended for kids.
Collision Course kicks off with a Scrat prologue, an extended cut of the short film, "Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe", released last year. The saber-toothed squirrel inadvertently starts a spaceship with his acorn, catapults himself to space and radically arranges the Milky Way in the process. This chain of cosmic events also sends a huge asteroid to earth. Down below, Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo) and Diego (Denis Leary) must face this disaster while dealing with their own midlife problems. Meanwhile, Buck (Simon Pegg), who appeared in Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, returns and claims to know how to divert the huge asteroid away from earth. Joined by their family and friends, our mammal heroes embark on a perilous path to save the world from an impending meteor shower. Will this mark the end of the Ice age? One certainly hopes so.
This sequel follows the same set-up as the previous films: a global catastrophe looms, but the characters are too preoccupied with their respective dramas that the gravity of the situation doesn't really stick. As if taken straight from a sitcom, Manny and his wife Ellie (Queen Latifah) are troubled because their daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer) wants to move out with his annoyingly upbeat fiancé Julian (Adam Devine). Diego and his girlfriend Kira (Jennifer Lopez) are having some pre-parenthood issues. And Sid, well, Sid is just there, being pathetic, until they throw him a girlfriend.
If there is one thing that has continually progressed in this franchise, it is the animation, which is, however, pretty much a given nowadays.
Of course, Scrat and his Sisyphean quest for that elusive acorn remain to be the only selling point for me. For 15 years, I have been bewildered why he just won't eat that damn acorn already. Blue Sky Studios should have made a spin-off about his character rather than put out this sequel. If you've reached the point when you would rather watch a silent comedy for hours rather than invest in the main story, something is clearly wrong with the script.
Ice Age: Collision Course fails to reinvent itself to sustain genuine excitement even from its loyal fanbase. With the number of characters jammed in this sequel, not much time is spent on exploring more important themes. Save for some Looney Tunes-esque sideshows, the storyline is running out of steam and is definitely not close to the quality of Pixar films. The harsh cold truth is this: the Ice Age franchise has run its course and exhausted its options, ultimately freezing itself from the hot stuff it once was.
Collision Course kicks off with a Scrat prologue, an extended cut of the short film, "Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe", released last year. The saber-toothed squirrel inadvertently starts a spaceship with his acorn, catapults himself to space and radically arranges the Milky Way in the process. This chain of cosmic events also sends a huge asteroid to earth. Down below, Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo) and Diego (Denis Leary) must face this disaster while dealing with their own midlife problems. Meanwhile, Buck (Simon Pegg), who appeared in Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, returns and claims to know how to divert the huge asteroid away from earth. Joined by their family and friends, our mammal heroes embark on a perilous path to save the world from an impending meteor shower. Will this mark the end of the Ice age? One certainly hopes so.
This sequel follows the same set-up as the previous films: a global catastrophe looms, but the characters are too preoccupied with their respective dramas that the gravity of the situation doesn't really stick. As if taken straight from a sitcom, Manny and his wife Ellie (Queen Latifah) are troubled because their daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer) wants to move out with his annoyingly upbeat fiancé Julian (Adam Devine). Diego and his girlfriend Kira (Jennifer Lopez) are having some pre-parenthood issues. And Sid, well, Sid is just there, being pathetic, until they throw him a girlfriend.
If there is one thing that has continually progressed in this franchise, it is the animation, which is, however, pretty much a given nowadays.
Of course, Scrat and his Sisyphean quest for that elusive acorn remain to be the only selling point for me. For 15 years, I have been bewildered why he just won't eat that damn acorn already. Blue Sky Studios should have made a spin-off about his character rather than put out this sequel. If you've reached the point when you would rather watch a silent comedy for hours rather than invest in the main story, something is clearly wrong with the script.
Ice Age: Collision Course fails to reinvent itself to sustain genuine excitement even from its loyal fanbase. With the number of characters jammed in this sequel, not much time is spent on exploring more important themes. Save for some Looney Tunes-esque sideshows, the storyline is running out of steam and is definitely not close to the quality of Pixar films. The harsh cold truth is this: the Ice Age franchise has run its course and exhausted its options, ultimately freezing itself from the hot stuff it once was.