Genres

Visitors Review

TripXyDE 2012-05-20 23:13:42

Starting Out Summer With Sizzling Meltdown Fun

To those whose funny bones are hard to reach, this sequel may not be as rib-tickling as the first one, but as much as Ice Age 2 may just be a clichéd-up chip off the old movie it sure is, at least, gives some satisfaction and a loud laugh off the film's target audience: the families. The theater where I watched this movie in would light up in the loud laughter of kids and parents alike. In addition, the storyline of the sequel seems inevitably important as a continuation of the first movie; just as the first movie tells of the coming of the Ice Age, the sequel tells its end, that is, when a meltdown occurs and the Earth is restored to its normal global climate. The animation has improved quite a lot and is spectacularly realistic to watch. The music and sound effects were also buzzing with delightful energy. There is even a musical number with singing vultures that really knocked me out with laughter. ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN is enjoyable and hilarious. A real family treat just in time for the end of the school year and the opening of the summer vacation season. Definitely for kids of all ages.

2012-05-20 14:55:27

ice age

This review is from: Ice Age - The Meltdown (Full Screen Edition) (DVD) Bought this to show to my seventh grade science class, but as of yet we have not hit where this fits into our year yet

skyryderz-1 2012-05-20 20:47:14

Ekthelent

This movie lived up to the standard created by the original Ice Age,and kept the humour coming.The old characters, and of course the new ones interacted well and theclips of Scrat chasing his acorn were inserted just at the right times.I liked the way that new characters are introduced to the viewer, someof the extra characters were almost as funny as the regulars. Thestoryline and the animation are fantastic, and some of the scenes hadme wobbling in my seat, especially the vultures singing Food GloriousFood, and the sloths Fire king sequence.I couldn't guess many of the outcomes of the situations, and so I foundmyself guessing time and again what would happen. I suggest that youdon't read any of the hype, or see any of the trailers, just go alongto your local cinema and watch it, just don't forget your chucklemuscles, though, you'll need them

Carla 2012-05-20 10:28:23

Not appropriate for young children

My kids were very excited to see Ice Age 2, since we are all fans of the first movie. I have three 3.5 year olds, and normally I try to screen movies prior to the kids seeing them. For this movie, however, we made an assumption based on the first movie.We were all shocked at the content of Ice Age 2. For starters, at the beginning when they realize the ice is really melting and a flood is imminent, one of the ice walls starts to break. One of the creatures then comments, "Dam!" with the intonation of using the curse word Damn! As adults we can discern the difference, but kids won't realize this. That one scene alone would have been enough to deter me from taking my kids to this movie had I known about it. But that wasn't all.They also had a story line with some ferocious-looking water creatures. As far as I could tell, these did nothing to help the story along, other than making it very scary for little kids. They were already trying to outrun the flood, why did they need to add the scary creatures? They killed a turtle - didn't show him actually being killed, but showed him swimming in the water where the creatures were, and then his empty shell being spit up on the shore. They also chased and fought with the Manny at the end. At one point my kids were so scared they had their faces buried in my chest and didn't even want to watch.I enjoyed the new characters of Ellie and her brothers, and the animation was wonderful. But I will not let my kids see it again and wish I had known these things beforehand.

Double BENetration 2012-05-13 06:55:22

Ice Age: The Meltdown

Ice Age: The Meltdown is an alright movie that is probably worth watching with the family and children. Did not expect a sequel out Ice Age but the movie turned out to be pretty good. The movie turned out to be a decent movie that brings in some humor about the prehistoric age. The animals are pretty funny and are compiled with a cast that has been famous in some shows and movies. Can not really tell about if this movie could actually contend against Inside Man but it can beat out Basic Instincts 2: Risk Addiction.

MGSku 2012-05-12 17:44:44

Worth the Money

Not as good as the first but still a great buy.I think the addition of the female mammoth and the two opossums wasinteresting but they were no where near as good as the original trio.It doesn't say on IMDb but 'Ice Age III' is going to be released in2009 according to Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Age_%28film%29 This movie also hadvery good tag-lines my personal favorite Kiss Your Ice Goodbye. andKiss your Knuts goodbye.I say go see this movie and when you can buy it... And do not miss IceAge III (2009

lanelm 2012-05-10 23:06:53

Better than the first!

I went to see this film with my nieces, not even hoping for a laugh.However, I did not count on the little gem of a pack rat, I and my wifeat one stage were in tears with laughter, I thought at one stage I wasgoing to have an anuerysm ( probably spelt wrong ) the pack rat stolethe show.... I could not breath, and for just these few moments I couldforgive a poor storyline and lack of direction. The animation isexcellent, I remember re-counting to my wife, 'have you seen the wetfur!'. The film is well worth seeing, yes its a cliché, but its a feelgood film and well worth a visit, its not deep, its not groundbreakingbut it is good wholesome entertainment!

hoseapluma 2012-05-10 10:47:37

Don't waste your time, or money

The original Ice Age was a flawed movie with great animation.This sequel is a complete mess with great animation. It appears thatthey spent $100 million on animation and voice talent and 5¢ onwriters. There is no real plot; characters pop up and disappear for noreason; and most of the animals are just cute for the sake of cute. Thewhole thing seems pointless, out of sync, and lame. The movie was onlyabout 90 minutes long, but every minute was excruciating. I know, Iknow, it's just a cartoon, it's for kids, etc. Well, it's possible tomake smart movies for kids, but if everything islowest-common-denominator garbage like this we will never see themagain. My ten-year-old liked it, and it's going to be a hit,unfortunately. If you rent this film, try turning off the sound andmaking up your own dialog; or you could randomly flip through thescenes as individual vignettes. Either way, it would make as much senseas the original.

2012-05-02 06:35:06

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown... On the Rocks

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown: 5 out of 10: Global Warming comes to the Ice Age clan. Now before you get any idea that this is An Inconvenient Cartoon, keep in mind that global warming in this case is presented as a fairly benevolent event (After all they are in an Ice Age) and by definition not man made (though with all the fart jokes I think Woolly Mammoth flatulence may be a contributing factor.)Possibly controversial political hot potatoes aside, this is a very attractive and quite empty headed CGI cartoon.The movie is simply drop dead gorgeous. The water effects alone are almost worth a view. The other highlight of Ice Age 2 is simply the finest English orphan vulture musical number ever put on film.Other than that Oliver Twist twist, the jokes seem kind of flat. The characters have no spark (Denis Leary's Saber Tooth tiger in particular seems neutered.), and there is some Noah's Ark imagery that at best seems misplaced.I'm sure the kids will love it and I have often felt the first Ice Age was under-appreciated compared to similar Pixar offerings. The sequel alas is a bunch of gags barely strung together with a go from point A to point B storyline occasionally interrupted by that scene stealing pre-historic squirrel, Scrat.Most of the gags are pleasant enough but, except for the vulture musical number, there is nothing inspired in the whole film.

The_Film_Cricket 2012-05-01 14:10:32

Meltdown has potential but wow does it talk too much.

Ice Age: The Meltdown is really two movies and, like the predators thatloom throughout, both movies are vying for supremacy. The firstinvolves the prehistoric caravan from the original in a fast-pacedadventure story as they try to stay one step ahead of a nasty plague ofglobal warming. The second wallows in long treks of dialogue aboutextinction, misunderstandings, reproduction, phobias,what-makes-a-family and at least one head-scratcher of an identitycrisis. I enjoyed the first but for the second, I kept longing for myFast-Forward button.As you will recall, the characters from the earlier film Manfred theMammoth, Sid the Sloth and Diego the Saber-toothed Tiger formed a smallherd. They are no less friendly this time though some personality flawsstart to emerge including Sid who contracts Dangerfield's Disease andcomplains that he don't get no respect; Diego has an apparent fear ofwater; Meanwhile, Manny fears that he's the last of his kind. You don'thave to be Kreskin to figure out that all of these issues are dealtwith in the third act.But the larger problem begins with the information that the iceglaciers are melting and they will soon find themselves a mileunderwater if they don't find a legendary hollow log that will sailthem to safety. That sets them on a long trek where they deal withtheir problems and Manny finds a pretty girl-mammoth named Elly (voiceof Queen Lahtifah) who could help him repopulate the species if shewasn't under the delusion that she's a possum (It sounds lame but,trust me, it sets the stage for at least three brilliant sight-gags).Manny and Elly are sweet together and I enjoyed a lot of theirchemistry. But their scenes together run a bit long and there is talkafter talk after talk after talk and where the movie should be bouncyit just kind of politely rolls. The dialogue leaves the visuals (whichare breathtaking) left to be glanced mostly over their shoulders.Apart from all of these problems is, of course, the reason we came tosee the movie in the first place: Scrat the hapless squirrel whocontinues his endless quest to hold on to apparently the only acornleft on earth. He gets involved in three brilliant set-pieces, oneinvolving piranha, one involving a run-in with a baby bird and a thirdthat I can't reveal but let's just say it's strikes a perfect a noteand closes the movie. Scrat is what holds the movie for me, just likethe original Ice Age he's a hundred times more interesting thananything else in the film.Scrat helps to break up those long passages of dialogue and so do twoproduction numbers that I didn't expect. One involves a masterpiece ofcomic genius involving some ever-watchful buzzards who perform perhapsthe creepiest version of "Food, Glorious Food" that I've ever seen(somewhere Busby Berkley is either smiling or crying). The otherinvolves a tribe of sloths who are so fascinated by Sid's ability tomake fire that they pronounce him their fire god. They go into a funchanting number that - darn it - had my toes tapping. The problem isthat these great scenes are a very small part of the movie, broken upby long passages in which the characters talk and talk and talk.I wish the movie had found that kind of bouncy note of fun all the wayinstead of pausing for character flaws. As I said, this is two movies,one that moves and one stops for a long chat. I'm not averse toconversation but in the case of an animated comedy less might have beenmore.**1/2 (of four)

zebraspots 2012-04-28 04:11:26

New characters mixed terrifically with the old

Though not as classic or funny as the original Ice Age, Ice Age 2 issomething you won't want to miss. Once again, we travel back in time tomeet up with Manny, Diego, and Sid. As the title describes, the ice ismelting and the whole valley is in danger of being flooded. All thecreatures must migrate to a gigantic boat waiting on the other side ofthe valley to float them safely on the water.The most popular character, Scrat, is back. The squirrel's mutedattempts to retrieve his precious acorn from hilarious situationsdeserve some sort of award to the creativeness of the animators. Thecute creature comes into frame every ten or twenty minutes, and theaudience will laugh at his mere presence.New characters include two possums and another female mammoth who hascome under the impression that she herself is a possum. The two realpossums work as a team to ensure mischief for the mismatched herd inIce age 2. Sean William Scott and John Peck voice the two and manage toexcellently portray the carelessness and silliness that will make youthink back to the class clowns of your own middle school. Queen Latifahis Ellie, the mammoth-believed-too-be-possum, which our beloved Mannydevelops a crush on.A few of the scenes are entertaining in that they look like BusbyBerkly stepped in to direct them. The dancing and singing is intriguingrather than boring. Ice Age 2, thankfully, does not go the route ofmusical.

j-picard 2012-04-27 13:51:12

not worth the ticket price

Not a patch on the 1st, the scrat jokes even have worn thin. Theanimation is the same as the 1st, the story no where near as good asthe 1st, and the story seems to have been slapped together, and piecedtogether in a rush. Very tired and predictable all the way through. Even the voice actingis low key, the animators seems like they couldn't even be botheredwith much detail, it all looks tired and rushed, and belong on aSaturday morning serial show, not a full featured film productionThe production on this feature was very quick and it shows. I think this belongs in the bargain basement bin of DVD collections.This is a sequel that NEVER should have been made.

manikhero 2012-04-25 18:20:15

It was funny and the superb graphics continues

The movie was funny and the superb graphics continues. In this moviealso, Sid and Scrat were funny. The last scene was totally awesome andcool. The carnivorous fishes were awesome and cool in the movie. Crashand Eddie were also funny in this movie. When, the vulture warns theanimals that the entire place is going to flood, that time the voiceand the quotes of the vulture was awesome and cool. When, the rocks arespinning slowly and these animals were about to die, that scene wasalso awesome and superb and it had a little thrill. Tony was also oneof my favorite characters because he moves fast by hiding inside theshell and the color of the shell is blue which my favorite color is. Ishould really appreciate the creators of "Ice Age: The Meltdown".

DICK STEEL 2012-04-25 16:00:40

A Nutshell Review: Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Similar to the first Ice Age, the promotional material for the sequelwas out in the theatres way in advance, and courtesy of the Scratcharacter too, up to its usual antics of getting to that elusive acorn.Here, Scrat opens the movie, and emulating the style of the first, heprovides most of the laughs, also as an intermission from the actualscenes from the main cast.Our gang of prehistoric animals are back - Manny the Mammoth (voiced byRay Romano), Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the Sabre-toothTiger (Denis Leary). We learn that Sid has gone into the earlychildhood business, educating the young minds of pre-historic brats.However, I felt that this movie was somehow darker in tone than theoriginal. While the original was one which dealt with hope, this onehad its setting in extinction, disaster and death.The valley which they live in is threatened by the melting ice, nothanks to global warming. So all the animals embark on a journey tosalvation, to that rumored ark which will save them from the massivefloods to come. Along the way, our trio meets up with another trio ofcharacters, who were added to expand the cast, featuring 2 PossumsCrash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), and another, butfemale, mammoth (Queen Latifah).Needless to say, Manny's still anti-social, and Diego can't get alongwith those rascal possums who get on his nerves, and Sid's the"philosopher" ever providing the laughs. Various themes like romance(hey, we got 2 mammoths here), friendship, trust, and believing inoneself to overcome one's phobia get covered. Pretty wide scope, butthey manage to fit in place nicely.The villains in this sequel are pretty nasty, besides the loomingnatural disaster, we have two sea creatures with nasty teeth andattitude, as well as menacing vultures ever ready to pounce on theflesh of animals who have fallen.But it's not all that bleak. Keep a lookout too for that mad slothsong-and-dance sequence, which has potential to become the next earworm ala Madagascar's zany "you-got-to-move-it" song. The animation isas usual, top notch, and I just can't get enough of the photo-realisticice and water landscape.This is one piece of animation that doesn't rely too much on sightgags, of spoofing current affairs, but one filled with more wittydialogue and kept on an even keel with its interesting storyline.Though at times it might feel clichéd, somehow it excelled in itsexecution.And that makes this sequel, as enjoyable as, if not better, than theoriginal. Recommended stuff this week!

cdoelle 2012-04-24 15:41:12

So bad it hurts to type

Conventional wisdom tells you to run from sequels... well, unless it isa sequel to an animated film like Toy Story. Conventional wisdom winsout with Ice Age 2. Now, before you think I am just not a fan of thefranchise, let me say that I found the original Ice Age a veryenjoyable film. This new one - not so much.Dave said it best when he pointed out to me that the first one had twolevels of humor - the 3rd grade stuff and the adult stuff. Thesilliness and hijinx of the characters was visually funny as well. InIA2 The Meltdown, all of the adult stuff is gone or comes much later inthe movie. (I have to admit that I quit watching after about 20minutes... I just couldn't bear it anymore.) The kiddy humor is intact,but it is not slapstick comedy or even good jokes, it is silly faces oncreatures and quite possibly the worst writing I have seen in years.The writing team of Peter Gaulke and Gerry Swallow are the mastermindsbehind that classic of comedy - Black Knight (and thats the goodstuff.) These guys suck too much to be called bad.It doesn't matter how many high-profile, talented actors voice thewords. When the words suck - the film sucks... and this one does.

2012-04-24 03:57:44

Ice Age 2

Received item in very good condition. Took a couple of weeks to get, but wasn't in any hurry. Very satisfied w/item.

2012-04-22 12:51:14

good sequal

This review is from: Ice Age - The Meltdown (Full Screen Edition) (DVD) part two is as good as the first one. i think it teaches the lesson that we should all be who we were intended to be. for example a mammoth or in this case a "shemoth" can not be a oppossum. meanong do not try to be someone you are not. i like to buy programs that have life lessons weaved through them. I love cartoons/animation even at my age. its a keeper.

Stampsfightclub 2012-04-21 23:36:10

often funny but mainly annoying family animation

the narrative.As the trio of characters head on a journey to escape the calamity thatis the fall of the valley, I couldn't help but feel the timing andhumour that was used in the opening sequences was very poorly executed,being predictable and unimaginative.The self obsessed wanting to be loved Sid the Sloth is somehow moreannoying, Manny the mammoth is also just as irritating with hisextremely annoying moaning and groaning attitude and the unenthusiasticagenda set by what would and should be the sabre-toothed tiger Diegopresents an uninspiring diverse group of animals.The target audiences for these types of films would normally bechildren and I can't see how many would be captivated by such a boringgroup.The plot moves at a steady pace and never really catches up to thelevel the first film set. Apart from a terrific final few scenes, thefilm is often poor and focuses upon the character's personal issuesrather than the bigger scale. There is no question about the animationwhich is simply sensational but in this current time where animationsare being made every week the effects are easily forgotten by theunmoving unfunny plot.There are many scenes which create enjoyment, especially through theacorn obsessed Scrat and the final conclusion to the film is engaging.Ice Age 1.Unfortunately this sequel fails to live up to the brilliance of thehumorous slick first. With Ice Age 1 audiences always felt afamiliarity and attachment to the narrative and the characters where asits sequel tries to hard to gain attachment by having more seriousissues revolving around them e.g. Manny's depression at being the lastof a species.The jokes from the first were amazing from all characters. Howeverapart from Scrat (who also loses a bit of himself here) every joke isplain, predictable and does not conform sufficiently to the story.i recommend the first ice age and to leave this one alone

Dennis Hermatz 2012-04-20 00:24:15

Ice Age 2

This movie wasn't as good as the first one. I was kind of let down bythis one. I had a lot of expectations of it. It was still a really cuteand adorable movie for the kids which is why i gave it a 7. But withthe first one as an adult i loved it. I didn't get the same vibe as idid with this one.I don't think they added enough danger to the story-line. In the firstone you were on the edge of your seat wondering if they were going todefeat the other tigers. But there was no real on the seat moments. Ididn't like how they tried to tie a love story into it. Its a kidsmovie, kids these days are learning about these things earlier andearlier. I always see movies with love stories. I didn't want to seeone with Ice Age 2.As always the characters were funny and fun to watch. But still a great movie to take the kids to. They will enjoy it.

jtothedovez 2012-04-19 17:18:09

Spectacular! This Ice is for any Age!

Ice Age: The Meltdown is a must-see for everyone. 3 year olds, 7 yearolds, 20 year olds, 52 year olds, 99 year olds. This movie will win youover from the opening scene. Incredibly funny and amazingly donedescribes this movie. It surpasses it's prequel in every way possible.When Ice Age hit the scene in 2002, I remember being like "Where thehell did this come from?" and when it was over I was like "Wow, thatwas sweet!" Then I heard there was going to be a sequel... WITH QUEENLATIFAH! Oh God. She is way overexposed and famous. I can't stand anyof the movies she's done. I had a feeling this would turn into crapwith her in it. But little to my surprise, it turned out exceedinglywell. Her character wasn't annoying at all, and sometimes I completelyforgot it was HER voice.The plot is simple: The ice age is coming to an end and everything isgoing to melt and the animals need a new place to go or they'll drown.John Leguizamo as Sid The Sloth pulls it off again with thatfunny-as-hell lisp. That character definitely stole the movie. Asidefrom him were the hilarious cartoony humor scenes with Scrat TheSquirrell and his never-ending quest of trying to get that damnedacorn! I have a few gripes, but nothing that should really pull youaway from this movie. First off, I think they upped the seriousnessfactor in this movie a little too much. Not a big deal, but they say"Ass" a few times (referring to an animal, but still), and one of theanimals bites the big one at the beginning... A little too violentcompared to the first one. Second, there are WAY too many subplots tokeep up with (in my opinion) if I were a youngster. Manny has his owndilemma of trying to convince himself that he's not the only mammothleft on earth, Diego has his own fears to deal with, nobody everappreciates Sid and he's trying to gain everyone's respect, and thelist goes on! All this while they're trying to reach a place to getshelter from the doomsday-ish flood.But rest assured, you will love this movie no matter who you are. Thecoldest person in the world has to laugh at least one time in thismovie. Prove me wrong!