Ice Age: Collision Course review

ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE:

FURTHER PROOF THIS FRANCHISE SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE FREEZER!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: * 1/2 out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Scrat going where no squirrel has gone before in Ice Age: Collision Course

            Before I rip into this, let me take a moment to discuss animation studio, Blue Sky’s previous movie from last year, The Peanuts Movie. It was in my opinion the best film they made so far, it was funny, clever, well-animated, and most importantly it had heart, the movie was overall an enjoyable family movie and I really liked it, what do they follow it up with? ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE!

            Why does this studio keep making terrible Ice Age sequels after they make these decent and at times, really good original animated features? The same thing happened with Robots, Horton Hears a Who!, and Rio, so original ideas don’t matter anymore, do people just want the same thing over and over again?

            You must think I’m an Ice Age hater, really I’m not, the first Ice Age movie released in 2002 I thought was pretty good. I don’t think it stands as tall as Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks’ films, but it was funny, heartwarming, and had enjoyable characters, I liked it as a kid and I respect it today as an adult. But as the movies went on they gradually got worse, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown was okay at best while Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Ice Age: Continental Drift were extremely forgettable.

            The only good parts in the Ice Age sequels are the scenes involving the squirrel, Scrat (voiced by Chris Wedge) and the acorn. He’s where most of the decent comedy comes from and not much changes with this one, at least I get some decent visual comedy with him in between the unfunny main plot elements.

            So after the third and fourth movie were pretty much obliterated by the critics, Blue Sky returns with the fifth installment of the franchise, Ice Age: Collision Course. And then the Ice Age franchise went from harmless kids’ entertainment to a “MAKE IT STOP!” franchise, yeah this is basically the all CG equivalent to Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise.

            The film follows mammoth parents, Manny (voiced by Ray Romano-Everybody Loves Raymond, Men of a Certain Age, Parenthood) and Ellie (voiced by Queen Latifah-Chicago, Bringing Down the House, Beauty Shop), their daughter, Peaches (voiced by Keke Palmer-Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Cleaner, Scream Queens), her fiancé, Julian (voiced by Adam DeVine-Pitch Perfect, Pitch Perfect 2, The Intern), sloth, Sid (voiced by John Leguizamo-Dr. Dolittle, Titan A.E., Moulin Rouge!), Saber-toothed tiger, Diego (voiced by Denis Leary-Small Soldiers, A Bug’s Life, The Amazing Spider-Man), and his wife, Shira (voiced by Jennifer Lopez-Selena, Antz, Maid in Manhattan), and Ellie’s possum brothers, Crash (voiced by Seann William Scott-American Pie franchise, Mr. Woodcock, Planet 51) and Eddie (voiced by Josh Peck-All That, Drake & Josh, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) preparing for Peaches wedding with Julian and Manny and Ellie’s anniversary. Upon realizing that Peaches and Julian plan to move away from home after they’re married, they become worried and try to come up with the best way to keep their daughter safe.

            Unfortunately, the anniversary and wedding plans are cut short as an asteroid is hurdling towards Earth to wipe out all prehistoric life. So the gang sets off on another adventure to stop the asteroid from destroying everything, along the way they join up with their old friend, Buck (voiced by Simon Pegg-Mission: Impossible franchise, Star Trek franchise, The Adventures of Tintin) who is on the run from an angry family of Dromaeosaurs that make it their mission to keep the asteroid on its collision course (no pun intended) so it can kill Buck.

            During their journey the gang encounters a civilization of peaceful youthful citizens known as Geotopia including a meditating llama named the Shangri Llama (voiced by Jesse Tyler Ferguson-Ugly Betty, Project Runway, Comedy Bang! Bang!), a massage therapist rabbit named Teddy (voiced by Michael Strahan), and a beautiful sloth named Brooke (voiced by Jessie J-Saturday Night Live, The Voice UK, Grease Live) who becomes Sid’s love interest (No Duh!). All of which assist the gang is stopping the asteroid before all prehistoric life becomes extinct, meanwhile Scrat is trying to get an acorn in space.

            Overall, Ice Age: Collision Course is beyond forced and pointless in existing, the humor falls flat and the modern talk is so cringe-worthy I almost wanted to smack the movie in the face. The only reason this movie was made is for the purpose of making money, something the Ice Age franchise is notorious for, but can’t it at least have effort put into it, it can be a cash cow but it can also be a decent movie too, Minions was a better movie compared to this, and that’s as big an animated cash cow as you could get these days.

            The only funny parts in the movie come from Scrat, he at least offers some decent comedy and his bits are a lot more visually funny and imaginative than anything else in this movie. Really all you needed to do with this movie is make it a ten minute Scrat short and throw it before a much better movie.

            It’s not one of the worst animated movies ever made nor is it one of the worst movie I’ve ever seen, not even close, but I must say, this is a pretty bad installment to the franchise, in my opinion it’s the worst in the Ice Age franchise. If you want to keep your little kids quiet for a couple hours, it’s mostly harmless but if you’re expecting to be invested in the story and characters with this movie, you’re better off taking the kids to Dory or Pets.