Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

Starring the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguiazamo, and Denis Leary

Ice Age: The Meltdown is a very funny, very exciting animated adventure story. If you enjoyed the original movie, you’ll like this sequel. After years of watching and re-watching Ice Age, it’s nice to finally have some new material to watch involving the great ensemble assembled in the first movie. Ray Romano continues to delight as Manny the mammoth. John Leguizamo riffs as Sid the sloth, and Denis Leary entertains as Diego the saber tooth tiger. This unlikely herd of three faces a new threat: the huge ice dam at the head of their valley is starting to melt; if they don’t do something, they’ll be swept away in a flood of epic proportions.

There’s one other delightful holdover from the first movie; Scrat, the squirrel/rodent who covets acorns almost more than life itself. The moviemakers wisely give us a lot more Scrat screentime. Scrat alone is reason enough to go see this movie. I can’t reveal Scrat’s final scene without giving away too much, suffice to say it’s both hilarious and touching.

We also meet some new characters who are a lot of fun. Queen Latifah is Ellie, a mammoth who thinks she’s a possum. Its side-splitting to see her trying to sleep upside while hanging from her tail. Josh Peck and Seann William Scott play her possum “brothers”, and they are also quite funny.

Some of the critics in movieland didn’t like this movie. I’m astounded at their lack of discernment. If they can’t appreciate simple and charming movies like this, how can we trust their other judgments? This movie is very funny, has gorgeous depictions of nature and some very exciting action sequences. The original Ice Age was nearly perfect in a lot of ways; this movie might not be quite as perfect, but it’s a delightful, funny ride, and I went to see it twice.