(2009) 2.5 Perry Seibert For moviemakers, there is a line between giving the people what they want, and giving people the exact same thing you've given them before. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs falls squarely into the latter category. As we rejoin the motley herd from the two previous Ice Age films, Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano) nervously pampers his expectant mate, Ellie (Queen Latifah), while his best friend, Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary), bristles at the thought of Manny's domesticated existence. Meanwhile, Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) continues to annoy everybody, and Scrat the rock rat is still trying to get that acorn. When Sid accidentally discovers an underground world populated by dinosaurs, he steals three dino eggs so that he, too, can become a "mommy." After the little ones hatch, their real mom comes to retrieve them, and snatches Sid as well, hauling all of them back to the dinosaur kingdom, a place that looks an awful lot like The Land Before Time. This, of course, prompts the others to band together yet again in order to rescue their friend. What sets this third installment of the animated series apart from its predecessors is the state-of-the-art 3-D effects. That's not to say this is better than the other two movies; it's not. For the most part, it's the exact same -- right down to the makeshift family remembering that they do, in fact, like each other and should probably help each other out. It's a lesson the characters have already had to learn twice -- you'd think they would have absorbed it by now. The tired performances don't help at all. Ray Romano sounds like he just ate a really big meal, and Denis Leary never makes Diego as ferocious as he has been in the past -- not even when he's supposed to be saving the day. Poor Queen Latifah suffers from such a lack of interesting material that you might not realize she's the voice of Ellie at all. Only Simon Pegg -- who joins the hit franchise as a swashbuckling, possibly psychotic weasel named Buck -- sounds energetic. What all this means is that little ones will probably have a fine time -- dinosaurs are for the most part just inherently appealing to seven-year-olds -- but parents may begin to pray that their little ones grow up before the release of "Ice Age 4."

Trailer

cast-crew for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on AllMovie

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

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Scatological Humor

genres

Children's/Family

sub-genres

category

Animated

directed by

Carlos Saldanha

countries

USA

release date

July 1, 2009 (USA - 3D)
July 1, 2009 (USA)

run time

87 min.

produced by

20th Century Fox Animation, Blue Sky Studios

released by

20th Century Fox

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cast

Ray Romano: Manny

John Leguizamo: Sid

Denis Leary: Diego

Simon Pegg: Buck

Queen Latifah: Ellie

Seann William Scott: Crash

Josh Peck: Eddie

Bill Hader: Gazelle

Kristen Wiig: Pudgy Beaver Mom

Chris Wedge: Scrat

Clea Lewis: Start Mom

Cindy Slattery: Bird

Sofia Scarpa Saldanha: Molehog Girl 1

Karen Disher: Scratte

Avery Christopher Plum: Beaver Kid 1

Kelly Keaton: Molehog Mom, Shovelmouth Mom

Jane Lynch: Diatryma Mom

Joe Romano: Ronald (Shovelmouth Boy)

Maile Flanagan: Aardvark Mom

Eunice Cho: Diatryma Girl

Christian Pikes: Little Johnny (Aardvark Kid)

Jason Fricchione: Adult Molehog Male

Harrison Fahn: Glypto Boy

Allegra Leguizamo: Aardvark Girl

Joey King: Beaver Girl

Carlos Saldanha: Dinosaur Babies, Flightless Bird

Lucas Leguizamo: Aardvark Boy, Beaver Kid 2

crew

Carlos Saldanha: Director
John C. Donkin: Producer
Lori Forte: Producer
Jason Carter Eaton: Screen Story
Michael Berg: Screenwriter
Mike Reiss: Screenwriter
Peter Ackerman: Screenwriter
Yoni Brenner: Screenwriter
John Powell: Composer (Music Score)
Harry Hitner: Editor
Michael Knapp: Art Director
Chris Wedge: Executive Producer
Christian Kaplan: Casting
Michael J. Travers: Production Manager
David Mei: Model Effects Supervisor
Galen Tan Chu: Supervising Animator
James Palumbo: Co-Editor
Michael Thurmeier: Co-Director
Patrick Worlock: Production Supervisor
Peter de Seve: Character Design