(2012) 2.5 Perry Seibert The Ice Age movies are unquestionably gigantic box-office smashes, not just in America but around the world -- apparently talking animals translate well in any culture. The fourth film in the animated series, Ice Age: Continental Drift, does nothing but replicate the tired franchise's formula for success. This time out, wooly mammoth Manny (voice of Ray Romano) gets physically separated from his wife Ellie (Queen Latifah) and his rebellious teenage daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer) because the squirrel Skrat brings about the end of Pangaea by chasing an acorn into the Earth's core in the film's opening, and funniest, segment. Manny, with the help of his friends Sid the annoying sloth (John Leguizamo), the tough smilodon Diego (Denis Leary), and Sid's seemingly demented grandmother Granny (Wanda Sykes), must trick a cruel ape pirate (Peter Dinklage) in order to commandeer his ship and reunite with his loved ones. In addition to this main storyline, there's a plot involving Peaches' crush on a popular mammoth, and the horrible way she treats her best friend, a molehog named Louis (Josh Gad), after being accepted by his too-cool-for-school clique. Also, Diego finally gets a possible girlfriend named Shira (voiced by Jennifer Lopez). The combined worldwide box-office take of the previous three films in this franchise is nearly $2 billion -- the last one, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, nearly hit $900 million singlehandedly -- so obviously 20th Century Fox is quite happy to do little more than remake the last film in every way possible. And that's precisely what they've done, filling Continental Drift with pointless chases, peppering in two or three funny one-liners, loading it up with homilies about sticking by your friends and family (lessons these apparently amnesic prehistoric beasts have already learned three times), and ending with a big group singalong. There's nothing exactly "bad" about this sequel, it's competently adequate. That's an apt description of pretty much every film in the Ice Age series, making them the animated equivalent of Jay Leno's reign on the Tonight Show. It's safe, predictable, and so blandly comforting that people flock to its familiarity. Those who are fond of Skrat's Road Runner-inspired escapades won't be disappointed by the segments devoted to his ongoing quest, but for anyone hoping to feel a smidgen of the emotional authenticity of the best Pixar, Dreamworks, or Aardman titles, Ice Age: Continental Drift will leave them out in the cold -- a terrible pun that's funnier than 95% of the movie.

cast-crew for Ice Age: Continental Drift on AllMovie

Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)

rate it

Ice Age: Continental Drift

editor rating

user rating

mpaa rating

flags

Excellent For Children
Scatological Humor

genres

Children's/Family

sub-genres

category

Animated

alternate title

Ice Age 4

directed by

countries

USA

release date

July 13, 2012 (USA - 3D)
July 13, 2012 (USA)

run time

94 min.

produced by

Blue Sky Studios

released by

20th Century Fox Animation

Submit corrections

cast

Ray Romano: Manny

John Leguizamo: Sid

Denis Leary: Diego

Queen Latifah: Ellie

Seann William Scott: Crash

Josh Peck: Eddie

Jennifer Lopez: Shira

Jeremy Renner: Gutt

Wanda Sykes: Granny

Keke Palmer: Peaches

Aziz Ansari: Squint

Drake: Ethan

Heather Morris: Katie

Joy Behar: Eunice

Nicki Minaj: Steffie

Josh Gad: Louis

Alan Tudyk: Milton, Hunky Siren

Nick Frost: Flynn

Kunal Nayyar: Gupta

Alain Chabat: Silas

Christopher J. Campbell: Creature Siren, Various

Ester Dean: Female Siren

Peter Dinklage: Captain Gutt

Karen Disher: Scratte

Jason Fricchione: Dumb Mammoth, Various

Ben Gleib: Marshall

George Jacobs: Beaver

James Palumbo: Panicked Start

Simon Pegg: Buck

Alexandra Romano: Meghan

Matthew Simmons: Teen Elk

Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo: Uncle Fungus

Patrick Stewart: Ariscratle

Meghan Thurmeier: Baby Bird

Chris Wedge: Scrat

Rebel Wilson: Raz

crew

Michael Thurmeier: Director
Steve Martino: Director
John C. Donkin: Producer
Lori Forte: Producer, Screen Story
Jason Fuchs: Screenwriter
Michael Berg: Screen Story, Screenwriter
Renato Falcao: Cinematographer
John Powell: Composer (Music Score)
David Ian Salter: Editor
James Palumbo: Editor
Nash Dunnigan: Art Director
Carlos Saldanha: Executive Producer
Chris Wedge: Executive Producer
Andrew Hickson: Set Designer
Jason Sadler: Set Designer
Randy Thom: Sound/Sound Designer, Supervising Sound Editor, Re-Recording Mixer
Tony Pitone: First Assistant Director
Amila Puhala: Animator
Chip Lotierzo: Animator
David R. Sloss: Animator
Derek Rozmes: Animator
Jackie Tarascio: Animator
Matthew J. Munn: Animator
Patrik Puhala: Animator
Scott Carroll: Animator
Anthony Nisi: Production Manager
Christian Kaplan: Casting
Angela Sullivan: Production Coordinator
Angie Brewster: Production Coordinator
Christopher Campbell: Co-Editor
David Chrastka: Special Effects Editor
Edward Kallab Corcoran: Production Coordinator, Script Supervisor
James Bresnahan: Supervising Animator
Jeeyun Sung Chisholm: Lighting
Kirk Garfield: CG Supervisor
Lora Hirschberg: Re-Recording Mixer
Mandy Hutchings: Second Assistant Editor
Michael Silvers: Supervising Sound Editor
Nia Hansen: Special Effects Editor
Nick Bruno: Supervising Animator
Peter de Seve: Character Design
Scott Guitteau: Special Effects Editor
Steve Schwartz: Second Assistant Editor
Teresa Eckton: Sound Effects Editor
Tom Carlson: Music Editor