There's a reason that Scrat, the weird, wordless rodent from the Ice Age films, features heavily in Fox's promotional materials for the films, and is usually the first character that comes to mind when thinking about the series: he's the best thing about the franchise. Although he only gets a few short moments of screen time per movie, the physical comedy in his segments leaves a lasting impression, conveying a lot of struggle within very little space.
In Ice Age: Collision Course, the fifth official film since the CGI children's series' inception in 2002, the sky is the limit and then some, as we see him blasting through space after discovering a long-lost space ship, causing the start of our solar system (and learning about the negative effects of zero-gravity and extreme G-forces) in the process. In short, his wildly inaccurate historical adventure is hilarious to watch.
It's also part of the reason why the rest of the film — a story that finds Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Buck (Simon Pegg) and their prehistoric pals fighting for survival after discovering a massive meteor is headed to earth — is so forgettable. Not much new is offered here (aside from the inclusion of Workaholics star Adam Devine as a woolly mammoth about to marry Manny's daughter), and a lot of original characters (Dennis Leary's Diego, Wanda Sykes' Granny) get little time to strut their stuff. Frankly, it doesn't make much financial sense (Jennifer Lopez makes a return as Shira, but you can count the amount of times she speaks on one hand), especially when all the best parts feature zero script-writing and limited voice work (the aforementioned Scrat).
Ice Age: Collision Course is inessential viewing unless you're a diehard fan of the series. For everyone else, maybe just wait for a new Scrat supercut.
(20th Century Studios)In Ice Age: Collision Course, the fifth official film since the CGI children's series' inception in 2002, the sky is the limit and then some, as we see him blasting through space after discovering a long-lost space ship, causing the start of our solar system (and learning about the negative effects of zero-gravity and extreme G-forces) in the process. In short, his wildly inaccurate historical adventure is hilarious to watch.
It's also part of the reason why the rest of the film — a story that finds Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Buck (Simon Pegg) and their prehistoric pals fighting for survival after discovering a massive meteor is headed to earth — is so forgettable. Not much new is offered here (aside from the inclusion of Workaholics star Adam Devine as a woolly mammoth about to marry Manny's daughter), and a lot of original characters (Dennis Leary's Diego, Wanda Sykes' Granny) get little time to strut their stuff. Frankly, it doesn't make much financial sense (Jennifer Lopez makes a return as Shira, but you can count the amount of times she speaks on one hand), especially when all the best parts feature zero script-writing and limited voice work (the aforementioned Scrat).
Ice Age: Collision Course is inessential viewing unless you're a diehard fan of the series. For everyone else, maybe just wait for a new Scrat supercut.
