The first thing that I wanted to say about this 20th Century Fox animated movie was that I thought it was a movie for kids - and realized how wrong I was after watching it. Sure, it is a movie made with kids in mind, but there is a lot that grown-ups would enjoy !
The movie starts with this squirrelly creature with long teeth, appropriately named Scrat, whose only goal in life is to find acorns and bury them. Unfortunately for Scrat and fortunately for us (as it provides a few good laughs), he / she / it manages to mess up even this simple activity throughout the movie. And becomes a kind of linking element that binds the movie together ...
The other protagonists in the movie include :
Sid the Sloth : A constantly jabbering creature that is a permanent victim of ’’foot in mouth’’ syndrome
Manfred the Wooly Mammoth : A staid and ’’keep to myself’’ creature who becomes Sid’s reluctant companion
Diego the Sabre Toothed Tiger : Cunning and manipulative, but with his heart in the right place
The Baby : Chubby, cute and wholesomely ’’protect-worthy’’, this human baby lands up with the above three unusual babysitters.
At the beginning of the movie, the Ice Age has begun and all the animals (includes rhinos, dinosaur like creatures, et.al) are going southwards. Except Manfred, who very stoically is headed in the opposite direction. And Sid, who has understandably been left behind by his herd (?). They run into each other in a situation where Manfred is forced to protect Sid from two angry rhinos, whose lunch has just been destroyed by Sid. Manfred tries his best to get rid of Sid, who hangs on with the tenacity of a leech. Here, you get to hear some of the best dialogue in the movie, with Ray Romano (of Everybody Loves Raymond fame), lending his acerbic voice to the character of Manfred.
Meanwhile, a pack of sabre toothed tigers attack a human camp and Baby gets separated from his clan. He is discovered by Sid and Manfred, and Manfred with some persuasion from Sid, takes the Baby into their custody to try and return him to his clan. Diego joins them, pretending to be interested in the same cause, while he actually wants to kidnap the Baby and deliver him to the leader of his pack.
Funny situations abound as Sid, Manfred and Diego set out to track the human group to return the baby. Some of my favourite scenes from the movie include :
Sid collects one stick to make up his shelter in the night and figures he can light a fire by rubbing two halves of the stick. The next scene shows a bedraggled Sid sitting in the pouring rain, gamely trying to get some sparks out of his wet stick, while Manfred is sitting snug in his robustly constructed shelter.
Sid scoring a touchdown with a melon after crashing through a flock of dodos, who are all trying to stop him from running away with their precious food, saved up for the long winter. This results in the extinction of the Dodo as a specie.
Manfred rescues Diego from certain death. When Diego asks him why he bothered to save him, Manfred says ’’That is what you do in a herd. You look out for each other’’. Turning point in the movie as it results in a change of heart for Diego.
Let me not reveal the ending, as it would take some of the interest away ...
Interestingly, the humans in the movie do not speak, while all the animals except Scrat do.
This movie is definitely in the same league as ’’The Lion King’’ and ’’Monsters Inc.’’ for sheer entertainment value.
For those who want to add it to their collection of home movies, the VCD is priced at Rs. 299.
You may also want to visit the Website of the movie https://iceagemovie.com