Movie Review: Ice Age: The Meltdown - Page 2

Sid's growing need for respect from his fellow blended-family members is only partially fulfilled by a tribe of much smaller sloths who snatch him away in the night and deem him King. Worship comes with a rendition of follow-the-leader that kicks the mimicking up several notches with harmony and rhythm - and a catch.

Diego, we learn, has a fear of the water, and a subsequent inability to swim. It is Sid's unlikely teachings that ultimately saves Diego from giving in to his fears. What Diego gains from the use of his once-shrugged lessons of levity is even more unlikely. The irony is sweet.

Scrat's numerous escapades had all the potential to be overdone, forever dooming the small, tireless creature to the land of the overexposed. Instead, superb script writing delivers one hysterical scene after another, all the while leading up to a never-before-seen side of Scrat's personality.

Lionel Bart's 1963 "Food, Glorious Food" from Oliver Twist is given a whole new and exciting venue as the vultures of ICTM readily transform from an aloft and disturbing presence awaiting food-by-death to energetic vocalists belting out the most appropriately chosen song ever in the lively style of a Broadway musical.

After the long journey to escape the impending flood, the animals resume their daily lives - additional members and all. Manny and Elsie come to more than just an understanding and find they can live their lives happily, comforted in the knowledge that they weren't the last of their kind after all. While not an overwhelming part of the story, one definitely comes away with a renewed and affirmed sense of what makes a family a family - and that every member is just as important, and loved, as the next.

The animation was itself a beloved character; an outstanding medium done to perfection, particularly when the wall of ice on the other end of the valley gives way, and each time Scrat finds himself above the beautiful, icy landscape. Special kudos to the animators for realizing what naturally curly hair (fur) really looks like when it's wet.

Article Author: Diana Hartman

Diana (nee Gulick) Hartman is the Culture and Tastes Editor for Blogcritics.org. She is a freelance writer, mother of three, and a (Ret.) US Marine spouse. She is a Wichita, Kansas native, having also lived in the California desert, Southern California, and eastern North Carolina. …

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