Ice Age: Continental Drift

Franchises! Franchises! Franchises! As I've stated before, summers are full of them. When Hollywood stumbles upon a hit, they won't give up or they won't back down, so when they hear the ca-ching at the box office, the Hollywood 'machine' just keeps rafting out these films like they were making sheets of money in the back room. But once in a while they really do hit the jackpot, not only financially, but quality also. As with the case of "Ice Age: Continental Drift", this franchise only ever gets better.

Scrat's (Chris Wedge) nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he's been after since the dawn of time, has world-changing consequences-- quite literally. A continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid (John Leguizamo) reunites Sid with his cantankerous Granny (Wanda Sykes), and the herd encounters a ragtag menagerie of seafaring pirates using an iceberg as a ship, including Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage), Shira (Jennifer Lopez) and others. They are intent on stopping the herd from returning home while all around them the geological upheavals are aplenty.

Others to round out the cast are Queen Latifah as Ellie, Manny's wife, Keke Palmer as Peaches, Manny and Ellie's daughter, Josh Gad as Louis, friend of Peaches, Seann William Scott as Crash, Josh Peck as Eddie, and Simon Pegg as Buck.

This was effortlessly directed by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier with such ease that one could truly empathise with these characters knowing these are just fictional animated characters. It was equally well written by Michael Berg and Jason Fuchs based on a screen story by Lori Forte and Berg. The premise kept you riveted from the first minute to the last.
All the characters were great, but kudos to Wanda Sykes as Granny and Peter Dinklage as Captain Gutt. They were a hoot! The animation by Blue Sky Studios, who also produced, was just rollicking fun and the 3D really enhanced this ride. Is there an Ice Age 5 in the works?

Out of 4 stars: 4                       Rated: PG                       94min. (Including a Maggie  
                                                                                                     Simpson animated
                                                                                                                 short)