MOVIE REVIEWS - ICE AGE 3: DAWN OF THE DINOSAUR

ENGLISH - (U) - 01 July 2009 - Animation
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Running time: about 94 mins.
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Producers: Lori Forte, John Donkin
Writers: Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman, Yoni Brenner
Casts: Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Sean William Scott, Sean Pegg
Plot: The sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters "Ice Age" and "Ice Age: The Meldown" are back, on an incredible adventure...for the ages. Scrat is still trying to nab the ever-elusive nut (while, maybe, finding true love); Manny and Ellie await the birth of their mini-mammoth; Sid the sloth gets into trouble when he creates his own makeshift family after finding some dinosaur eggs; and Diego the saber-toothed tiger wonders if he's growing too 'soft' hanging with his pals. On a mission to rescue the hapless Sid, the gang ventures into a mysterious underground world, where they have some close encounters with dinosaurs, battle flora and fauna run amok - and meet a relentless, one-eyed, dino-hunting weasel named Buck.

THE VERDICT:

Green Tea Bern says:

WARNING FOR SPOILER! With the third installment promising a greater danger of been in a dinosaur land, the reality tells me that there is nothing much to expect from it. Neither the movie did anything spectacular nor evolving much from the previous story in the previous two movies. Ice Age is family-fuel animation that simply just doing it all the best - bringing some laughter for those who crave for some but on the other hand landed on short in strength.



Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaur - continues the journey of three ice age talking animal pals - a giant mammoth, a sloth and a sort-of-like ancient jaguar. This time, a confrontation occurred between the three and Sid - the sloth was 'taken away' by the dinosaur from another world (below them) after Sid tried 'to adopt' three dinosaur babies from her. Manny and Diego, with the rest of the herd-family decided to venture into the other world to look for Sid. Buck, a highly-skilled weasel whom had lived in that other world for sometimes will help them.

Story-wise, it presents nothing more like the previous two - wild and fun adventure of three friends that does not make sense. This is no Pixar's production, besides like many other studio's attempt for making great animations, this is purely entertainment that serves nothing to present the themes strongly. Although family-theme and again, friendship are portrayed here, they are still weak.

Without any major change, this is just another Ice Age. The pace is okay but there are certain parts where can be a bit boring; probably because of the not-so-funny Manny-the-mammoth, been slapped with some uncool dialogue and humour. Diego is too cool while Sid is just as predictable as always but funny in another dimension.

Again, of all of those adorable characters, Scrat-the squirrel with his constant obsession for the acorn and now a new lover is still the main attraction because of its spontaneous comedy slap shots. Also, Buck the adventurous weasel voiced by Simon Pegg is simply fun, sarcastically enjoyable and pleasant to watch.

This animation is again praised for its good artistic cinematographic features but again tainted by a dull subject matter of its story. As always Ice Age 3 is just another passable family animation. Is anyone want to bet that Pixar's Up will beat this movie upside-down?

THE RATINGS.....
CAST - 3.5 stars
STORY - 3.0 stars
CINEMATOGRAPHY - 4.0 stars
EFFECTS - 3.5 stars
an overall>> 3.5 stars
GreenTea-O-Meter: 13.5