Ice Age 4

Time to take the kids to the cinema for a change, and with the holidays here (or “coming soon” if you’re south of the border) we’ll shortly be inundated with choice. Right now the big release is:

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift

“Holy crab!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: as the earth starts to reshape itself, Manny and his crew become separated from the herd

See it if you like: the other films in the series

And the ongoing saga of the mammoth, sloth and sabre-tooth continues in this fourth instalment. After a disappointing and mawkish sequel, things perked up with the third film. So how does episode four match up?

The first point to note is that it held Little Mister’s attention for pretty much the entire duration. This is a Good Thing. Even around the hour mark when he informed me that he needed to go to the toilet, I had to walk him out backwards so that he could keep watching the screen until we got through the doors! Little Miss seemed to enjoy it, too.

Like more animations these days, the story and humour are on several levels and IA4 does manage to appeal across the board. The animation is bold and impressive. The geek in me is still impressed with realistic hair (Manny’s daughter Peaches is the great example of this) and the movement of the characters is a joy to watch.

Thankfully there’s only one song in the movie with the exception of the awful mess in the end credits, so the story doesn’t really slow down too much. Of course, being a kids’ film there’s a lot of focus on not being mean to people, family being important and all that. Getting past that, though, there’s enough other stuff going on to distract adults from the forced moral issues.

Star of the series, if course, is Scrat the squirrel-like creature in constant search of the perfect acorn. He doesn’t disappoint during his sequences here and – as ever – is by far and away the highlight.

Oh, as a bonus there’s a Maggie Simpson short before the main feature that is well worth catching. With no speech at all, it’s a bit of a novelty as far as Simpsons episodes go, but it’s cute and clever at the same time.

I’m sure Ice Age 4 will be decreed as “unsuitable” by the more extreme Christian web pages as it deals with evolution and continental separation. From the point of view of a non-idiot, it’s a fun film for kids with enough going on to keep their accompanying parent-folk happy.

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