Ice Age: The Meltdown

The computer-animated sequel Ice Age: The Meltdown basically follows the pattern of the original, dividing its running-time between the adventures of the acorn-obsessed squirrel Scrat (the Wile E. Coyote-like creature that's mute apart from the occasional squeal), and the adventures of Manfred “Manny” the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary), who banded together in the first installment to return a lost human infant to its Stone Age tribe, and here lead an assortment of critters out of their glacier-bound home when the temperature rises and a flood threatens. The exodus, involving a variety of dangers and a romance for Manny, is no great shakes, but Scrat fortunately reappears periodically to enliven the proceedings. Like its predecessor, director Carlos Saldanha's moderately engaging family movie falls somewhere in the middle—quality-wise—of the ever increasing pack of computer-based feature cartoons. A strong optional purchase. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one by director Carlos Saldanha; the other by crew members), “The Animation Director's Chair” animation progression for six different scenes (8 min.), six “Lost Historical Films” character shorts (8 min.), a new seven-minute “No Time for Nuts” short featuring Scrat, the featurettes “Silly Sid & John Leguizamo” (7 min.), “Sloth Dancing to Sid's Sing-a-Long!” (4 min.), “Meet Crash & Eddie” (2 min.), and “Meet Ellie” (2 min.), two minutes of “Marketing the Meltdown” clips from Scrat on Family Guy and Sid hosting Fox's Animation Domination programming block, three brief Crash & Eddie stunts, a brief music montage, the brief clip “Scrat's Piranha Smackdown Sound Effects Lab,” a brief outtake prank, four DVD-ROM games (including “Sid's Soccer Challenge” and the “Video Game Memory Challenge”), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine set of extras for a so-so sequel.] (F. Swietek)[DVD Review—Mar. 18, 2008—Fox, 2 discs, 91 min., PG, $19.98—Making its second appearance on DVD, this re-release of 2006's Ice Age: The Meltdown is identical to the first version, but also includes a promotional bonus disc for the upcoming Horton Hears a Who! with a few Ice Age featurettes tossed in, including the eight-minute “Scrat: From Head to Toe” drawing featurette, a "Meet the Modeler" segment on clay modeling (7 min.), four minutes of “Scrat: Breaking Story” and “Scrat: News Report” trailers, and three new DVD games including “Migration Adventure,” “Whack-A-Possum,” and “Hot is Cold/Cold is Hot.” Bottom line: if you own the original, there's no compelling reason to pick this up.]