Ice Age: Continental Drift (U.)

Directed by Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier.


Featuring voices of: Ray Romano, Dennis Leary, John Leguizamo, Jennifer Lopez, Queen Latifah and Nicki Minaj. 93 mins



The Ice Age films are junky and disposable entertainments, but they are meticulously crafted and four films in there are no signs of the makers going through the motions; this is at least as enjoyable as previous entries. It has great visual invention and looks like a film of substance and craft but the dialogue is packed with contemporary slang and the story seems like it was dashed off.


Despite the films having grossed around $2billion dollars worldwide, its characters – a family of mammoths, a sabre tooth tiger and a sloth - don’t seem to have really entered the public consciousness. So the film doesn’t give them a moment’s peace. They are kept in motion throughout with the land constantly splitting apart beneath them or them being tossed about on the stormy ocean. Any moment that doesn’t have them falling from a great height or being pummelled by the forces of nature quickly sees the children’s interest drift.