Ice Age 3 Movie Review

I don’t remember the last time a movie sequel had bettered the previous ones. Yes, Ice Age 3 is the without a doubt the best of the series. There are new additions to the herd, Buck, a one-eyed Weasel which helps the herd in this adventure. Buck is a character similar to Shrek’s Puss in Boots character but only with more zeal and more scope in adventure & actions to perform. The character is in itself a phenomenon. Simon Pegg has done great justice by lending his voice to this character. Scrat (the nut chasing squirrel) has a friend/foe in this new character Scratte, another squirrel which tries to lure Scrat romantically in parting the nut. More footage to these two squirrels this time around, though in the end one might feel it was overdone a little bit.

The movie runs for 1 hour and 34 minutes packed with great animation, adventure, creativity, camaraderie, thrill, fun, wit & humor. The story line starts as usual with a fight for the nut between Scrat & Scratte. Manny is excited hearing that Ellie is pregnant. Diego the Tiger leaves the herd after realizing that old age has caught up with him. He gets a reality check after a Deer mocks him over a failed chase. Sid feels left alone and stumbles into three large eggs (yeah, you guessed them right, they are Dinosaur eggs). Sid decides to raise them and three baby Dinosaurs are born. Mama dinosaur comes looking for her babies, finds them and is forced by her babies to carry Sid along with them. Many & Ellie along with Crash & Eddie (the two Possums) plus Diego go behind the Dinosaur to rescue Sid. Buck helps them in this whirlwind adventure.

The portion with Sid & the baby Dinosaurs are just eventful. Dinosaur land has been created a la Jurassic Park. The biggest plus has been nearly equal footage to most of the characters rather than focus on only the two Mammoths. Director Carlos Saldanha has come up trumps in this movie. Ray Romano’s (Everybody Loves Raymond) voice for Manny and Queen Latifah’s voice for Ellie was top notch as usual. I just can’t imagine what a spectacle it would have been if I could have watched this on 3D. For folks in Mumbai, try to watch it in IMAX, trust me, it would be a treat.

My Verdict: ****