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Ice Age: Collision Course
Stars: Voices: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Adam Devine, Keke Palmer, Max Greenfield, Jessie J, Jessie Tyler Ferguson, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, Wanda Sykes
Director:
I attended the press show with few expectations for the fifth feature in the series of Ice Age animated extravaganzas.
While the sequel is one of Hollywoods most favoured ways of milking the movie market, rather too many cinematic follow-ups run out of steam and disappoint.
Not here, though.
While Michael Wilson, Michael Berg and Yoni Brenners screenplay may lack a driving narrative, there is sufficient loony invention after squirrel-like Scat, wildly pursuing his elusive acorn into Deep Space, accidentally triggers off the possible destruction of prehistoric Earth and threatens the Ice Age, leaving the popular creatures led by Sid, Diego, Manny and the rest of the herd to leave home and seek safety from the impending disaster
Fortunately the hardly groundbreaking storyline works well enough as a line on which to hang enough visual and verbal gags to please the target audience of youngsters while keeping accompanying adults from throwing themselves at the screen.
There is, of course, the regulation fart joke, by now a staple of the majority of juvenile-audience-aimed comedies, a character blows his nose on poison ivy with obvious results, along with mammoths playing ice hockey, vegetarian lions, unicorns, prehistoric flying creatures and the know-all Llama (The master of meditation. The supreme sovereign. The Shangri Llama!) among the attractively animated creations.
The animation is first rate and 3D filming works well, as does vocal casting
featuring, among others Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Adam Devine and, better heard than seen, Simon Pegg as the Cockney-voiced, one-eyed weasel Buck.
Directors Michael Thurmeier and Galen Tan Chu do the best they can with the material they have and do it well enough to guarantee that youngsters looking for easy laughs with familiar (and new characters) will be pleasantly entertained, even if the memory of the movie will soon tend to fade.
Alan Frank
USA 2016. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox. Colour.
94 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: U.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.
Review date: 16 Jul 2016