I would be remiss if I did not mention the numerous adventures that Scrat has in his attempts to obtain his precious acorn. Interspersed throughout the movie, he has battles with water, piranhas, and a newly hatched vulture. These are among the best parts of the movie, but they also are so numerous they expose how little story there really is. Almost the same can be said about the possum brothers, Crash and Eddie, whose sole reason for being, other than as Ellie's companions, is to provide comic relief.
Ice Age: The Meltdown feels as if it only had about 40 minutes of story and needed a way to pad out the runtime. This padding takes the form of many of those Scrat interludes, and other things like Sid's adventure with the mini sloths. I just felt as if they were purposely shifting the focus around in hopes that you wouldn't notice that the plot never moved anywhere.
The voice acting was decent. John Leguizamo stood head and shoulders above the rest. Despite not really caring about the story, everything with Leguizamo's Sid was gold. He brought an energy and sense of fun to every line and was one of the saving graces of the film. Denis Leary as Diego was pretty good; just the right amount of surly. That brings us to our two mammoths, Ray Romano and Queen Latifah. They are both adequate, but there really isn't much life to the characters.
Bottomline. In the end, I would have to say that it is an entertaining film, even if unfulfilling and not terribly memorable. Definitely geared towards the younger set. I like the Scrat stuff and everything with Sid, but the rest winds up as so much fluff. But the kids will like it, and that is probably the most important part.
Mildly Recommended.
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