Ice Age

Remember the hilarious trailer for Ice Age, in which the twitchy, bug-eyed squirrel-rat causes an avalanche while trying to bury an acorn in glacial ice? Well, that's the film's opening scene, and while it's not exactly all downhill from there, the rest of the movie has a hard time measuring up. The plot follows Manny the mammoth (an appropriately nasal Ray Romano) and Sid the sloth (lispy-voiced by John Leguizamo) on a quest across the frozen tundra to return a lost human baby to his tribe. Serving as a guide is Diego (Denis Leary), a saber-toothed tiger who'd much rather eat the tyke. Similarities to recent CGI predecessors Shrek (grumpy outcast hero, pesky sidekick, reluctant rescue mission) and Monsters, Inc. (returning a lost baby) are made up for by the movie's sharp and spirited sense of humor (extinction and evolution gags abound, and they just keep getting funnier) and by its entirely unconventional, refreshingly peculiar, sharply rendered but creatively scruffy, Chuck Jones-inspired animation style. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include full and widescreen versions; audio commentary by director Chris Wedge and co-director Carlos Saldanha; the animated shorts "Scrat's Missing Adventure" and the 1998 Academy Award-winner "Bunny"; six deleted scenes with optional commentary and language features; "Sid on Sid" short highlights reel voiced by John Leguizamo, "Scrat Reveals" promo shorts, animation progression for three scenes (using angle function to toggle through storyboards, 3D layout, unrendered animation, final rendering, and composites); multi-language clips (including Greek, Korean, and Cantonese); a making-of documentary on creation, modeling and storyboards; a 14-minute HBO special; seven featurettes on development; design galleries; three interactive games; and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: an outstanding extras package for a fun film.] (R. Blackwelder)[DVD Review—Mar. 21, 2006—Fox, 2 discs, 81 min., PG, $19.98—Making its third appearance on DVD, 2002's Ice Age (Super-Cool Edition) features a great transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. DVD extras new to this release include a “Nutty Movie Mode” viewing option which branches to deleted scenes and optional commentary, the “Extreme Cool View Version of Ice Age” which combines “Scrat's Frozen Fun Facts” with “Behind-the-Ice” video clips from the filmmakers and natural history experts, three extra DVD games, and the trailer for the upcoming sequel Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. Bottom line: if you already own one of the earlier versions, it's not necessary to upgrade.][Blu-ray Review—Apr. 15, 2008—Fox, 101 min., PG, $39.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2002's Ice Age features an excellent 1080p transfer and fine DTS HD Master lossless audio track. The bonus features have been seriously scaled down in comparison to the earlier standard DVD releases; namely, only an audio commentary by director Chris Wedge and co-director Carlos Saldanha, the five-minute “Gone Nutty: Scrat's Missing Adventure” animated companion short, and trailers. Bottom line: not surprisingly, the purely digital film Ice Age looks and sounds fantastic on Blu-ray. But the extras package is decidedly skimpy compared to earlier releases.]