Ice Age: The Meltdown DVD Review (Ray Romano) Empire Movies

ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN DVD REVIEW

Ice Age: The Meltdown
(Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment)

The Movie

The Extras

Reviewed by

4/10

6/10

Liam

Ice Age: The Meltdown is the much-anticipated sequel to 2002's surprise animated flick, "Ice Age". The movie features the return of Manny the wooly mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary). This time around, we find our friends dealing with the threat posed by the melting ice that surrounds the valley in which they live. Along the way, they are joined by a host of new characters including another mammoth named Ellie (Queen Latifah) and a pair of possum brothers named Crash and Eddie (Seann William Scott and Josh Peck respectively).

I'll come right out and say that I wasn't a big fan of the original "Ice Age". In fact, I'm 99% sure that I turned the movie off before finishing it. So, when this movie came out, I wasn't all that enthused. And I was right. This movie isn't as good as the original. And seeing as though I didn't like the original, that doesn't say much. I wanted to give it a chance. I just couldn't get past the fact that I wasn't all that crazy about any of the characters. The story seemed interesting enough, given the issue of global warming, but it wasn't enough to save the movie.

Special features on this DVD begin with a couple of commentaries. The first features director Carlos Saldanha while the second features a collection of behind-the-scenes people from producers to animators and so on. Features continue with an animated short titled "No Time For Nuts" starring Scrat, some clips featuring Crash and Eddie, a multi-angle feature titled "The Animation Director's Chair", a couple of mini-featurette's on the movie's new characters, a collection of "Lost Historical Films" and a "Scrat's Piranha Smackdown" sound effects feature where we see the same scene over and over using different audio clips. Click "more" in the special features section and we get an Outtake Prank featuring Crash and Eddie, a feature on Sid the Sloth, a music montage of behind-the-scenes clips, a look at Sloth Dancing featuring John Leguizamo, some marketing promos, some games and finally some previews. There is also DVD-ROM content for those who look for that kinda stuff.

I'll admit that I didn't spend a lot of time checking out this DVD. Sure, some kids like the movie and the characters. I didn't and I don't. And I don't feel all that bad about it. Maybe one day my own kids will want to watch it, forcing me to sit down and give it my time. Until then, this DVD will remain extinct on my DVD shelf.

Features
"No Time for Nuts" Animated Short
Director's Commentary
Crew Commentary
Crash & Eddie Stunts & Outtake Prank
The Animation Director's Chair
Meet Crash & Eddie and Meet Ellie Featurettes
Lost Historical Student Films on the Ice Age Period
Scrat's Piranha Smackdown
Silly Sid and John Leguizamo Featurette
Sid's Sing-and-Dance-Along
Set-Top Games:
· The Ice Age Factoid Meltdown
· Sid's Soccer Challenge
· Who's Your Buddy?
· Video Game Memory Challenge
DVD-ROM Website Games
And More!

Video
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Audio
English Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital Surround
French Dolby Digital Surround

Subtitles
English
Spanish
Closed-Captioned

Release Date
November 21, 2006

Rating
PG

Length
91 mins.

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