[Review: DVD] Ice Age

[Kajun]

Yet another computer animated movie, this time from Blue Sky, their first outing into feature film. Is it any good? Well, yes and no. The animation is good but there's something about the construction of the characters that makes them look a little more cartoon like than films such as Toy Story or Shrek. Perhaps it's intentional, or perhaps it's a consequence of the scenario they are in: background and settings are mostly white (due to the ice!) and so the harsh outlines may draw more than necessary attention to the characters. The movement of characters is spot on, however, and it still feels like the CGI boat is moving onwards and upwards.

Voices are supplied by Ray Romano (was in City Hall), John Leguizamo (most recently seen as Toulouse Lautrec in Moulin Rouge) and Denis Leary. Romano is very wooden as the mammoth Manfred and doesn't inspire at all; on the other hand Leguizamo and Leary add a much needed extra dimension to characters which are often muddled and seem assembled in a hurry.

The plot is standard, and for the first half hour seems to be a direct copy of Shrek; even the dialogue seems stolen. It seems down after a while, however, into a largely enjoyable but uninspiring rescue/chase film, with the obligatory happy ending. Humour is not lacking, with most of the laughs provided by Scrat, a squirrel who has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot, and although there are some funny/interesting scenes with the main characters, it is perhaps telling that most of the extras focus around Scrat, who indeed is the star of the show.

Extra wise there's plenty to go on - commentary, behind the scenes, making of, multi-angle animation storyboards, the usual stuff. The DVD package is well polished with intermenu animation, and overall this is a fairly successful outing for Fox. Does it rival Disney and Dreamworks? No. But it's an average film with above average animation, and will entertain for the brief period that it's on for (running time is just over an hour and a quarter). And the more studios trying to push to limits of technology to create better animated films, the better in my opinion: so long as they don't lose sight of the fact that you can't simulate a good story.

6/10 for the film, 7/10 for the DVD.