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Ice Age
**
Cinema Releases - March 22, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate U. 85 minutes.
Directed by Carlos Saldanha, Chris Wedge. Written by Peter Ackerman, Michael
Berg, Michael J. Wilson; from a story by Wilson. An animated film with the
voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Goran Visnjic, Jack Black,
Tara Strong.
Remember six years ago, when "Toy Story" came
out? Feature-length animation was a staggering leap of technology, and the
vibrancy of that movie's characters seemed unbelievable. I guess six years
is a long time. Computer animation is now routine; there are straight-to-video
releases in the medium, plus contemptibly lazy little movies like "Ice
Age".
Sure, the visuals are skilful. I like the dimension
of them, the way they create a feeling of space behind objects and depict
the flow of water with an almost creepy level of authenticity. But their
aura is dull and mechanical, kinda like a very goofy museum exhibit. They
never come to life, and this is supposed to be a comedy.
The plot involves a spineless sloth who teams
up with a glum woolly mammoth to help return a lost human baby to its parents.
We could get imaginative jokes about the animal kingdom and visually pleasing
settings, but instead we get an hour and a half of grim skies, and dialogue
that does a clumsy, forced job of humanising animals. A couple of bears roll
around in the mud playing dead and their mother says, "Come on, kids, you
can play extinction later." Later, in a scene that typifies the screenplay's
fundamental lack of ambition or imagination, the sloth and mammoth find
themselves having to change the human baby's nappy. Ho, ho,
ho.
As for the actors providing the voice-overs, Dennis
Leary and Goran Visnjic purr interestingly as a couple of theatrically villainous
tigers, but for some ungodly reason they're in the supporting cast, and Ray
Romano and John Leguizamo are the main players. Romano, with his penetratingly
whining tone, has the most uncharismatic voice in showbusiness; Leguizamo's
crass squawk is effective when used sparingly, but here it is
not.
There are a couple of good things. The inclusion
of a pair of gay rhino is not only amusing, but pretty daring for a Hollywood
kiddie flick. There's a clever sketch about dodo birds who prepare for winter
with military precision and worship their stockpiles of food in the manner
of nuclear survivalists. At one point there is a title card that reads "20,000
Years Later", and I sure ain't seen that before. Still, all I know about
the ice age is that it was a long time ago and it was cold, and frankly,
this movie doesn't help me much.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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