by Summer Lane

Special coupon for Dinuba Platinum Theatre at the end of this review.

It’s tough keeping your herd together. Just ask Manny, the 11-ton woolly mammoth who we all know and love. When the world starts breaking into pieces as the result of a continental drift, Manny gets separated from his family, Ellie and Peaches, and it’s up to him and his loyal friends, Diego and Sid, to get home safely. There’s just one problem: pirates.

When Manny, Diego, and Sid (and his cranky Granny) are tossed out to sea on an iceberg, everybody knows that Manny will eventually find a way to get back to his family. But doing so gets tricky when our gag-pulling gang runs into a bunch of pirates who want to take over their ship, or, iceberg. Here’s where things get a little cliché: the captain, a Monkey named Gutt, was a flat and stereotypical character. I didn’t find him intimidating, nor did I find him humorous. Instead I found myself wishing that we had our old friend Rudy back from Dawn of the Dinosaurs. (Now that was a great antagonist.)

Gutt’s determination to destroy Manny is not quite enough to fuel the story forward, hence the often present lack of tension. What really saves the movie is Granny (Sid’s crazy toothless grandmother), Diego, and Manny. The original characters are always the most reliable. Peaches and Ellie are stuck on the other side of the continental divide and as a result we don’t get to see too much of them. When we do, it’s usually to teach the kids a moral lesson about not losing yourself over a cute boy. Or should I say cute mammoth?

In all, there is plenty to like about this movie. It’s pretty much squeaky clean and it teaches kids a lesson about the importance of family, friends and being true to yourself. The mistake that was made was piling every punch line into the movie trailers and failing to leave any fresh gags for the theater audience. Still, it’s an enjoyable movie and you can’t help but be impressed by the monumental success of these film installments.

Check out the trailer on the movie website.

Ice Age: Continental Drift is now playing at Dinuba Platinum Theatres 6. Showtimes can be found on their website.

Print this coupon and enjoy a special discount for Kings River Life readers only!

Summer Lane is a freelance writer with thousands of published articles on a variety of topics. She’s also a published novelist, publicist, book reviewer and cat lover. Her book, Snappy Social Networking, is available now! You can contact Summer for reviews or writing on her blog.