Ice Age: Continental Drift

In this fourth installment of the popular animated comedy franchise, Manny the morose woolly mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano) is concerned about his rebellious ‘tween daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer), who wants to date a cool male mammoth (Drake): “Next thing you know, she's piercing her trunk.” But right after wishing she didn't have an interfering father, Peaches doesn't: she and her mom Ellie (Queen Latifah) watch Manny suddenly slide away on an ice floe that breaks off and floats out to sea. Joining Manny on his unexpected journey are Diego the sarcastic saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary), Sid the neurotic sloth (John Leguizamo), and a newcomer to the group, Sid's sassy, wisecracking Granny (Wanda Sykes). The motley crew's Paleolithic adventure brings them into contact with pirates who have commandeered an iceberg shaped like a Spanish galleon, led by evil, growling ape Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage) and his albino saber-toothed buccaneer sidekick, Shira (Jennifer Lopez), who serves as a love interest for Diego. All of the chaos here is apparently caused by Scrat when the twitchy squirrel-rat chases an elusive acorn into the center of the Earth, creating a seismic ripple that fragments the outer crust comprising the prehistoric land mass called Pangaea, setting new continents adrift. While Scrat is always fun, the series is starting to become too predictable, relying here on a script that is derivative, uninspiring, and often insipid, delivering familiar messages like “we don't leave friends behind,” although the visuals are still detailed and dazzling. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include “The Story So Far” recap of events from previous films (10 min.), a “Whale of a Tale: Drifts, Rifts, Beasties and Myths” making-of featurette (24 min.), and a “Shimmy Shake Music Section” with sing-alongs and music videos (11 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are a “Party with a Pirate” interactive viewing mode hosted by Squint (voiced by Aziz Ansari), a sign-along mode with sign language subtitles, the “Through a Pirates Spyglass” production featurettes “Voices Ahoy” and “Capturing the Crew” (26 min. total), the character featurettes “Granny and the Stink of the Sloths” (9 min.) and “Scrat Got Your Tongue?” (7 min.), deleted scenes (2 min.), “The Scratist” short (2 min.), and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for this comparatively weak fourth entry in the franchise.] (S. Granger)