Long ago, much of the earth was covered in huge sheets of ice called glaciers. When they eventually receded and the general temperature of the Earth increased, many of the animals that adapted to the colder climate migrated or went extinct. This was not a pleasant event.
At least it wasn’t until 20th Century Fox interpreted and molded it into two films meant to entertain children as well as adults: 2002’s “Ice Age” and its sequel “Ice Age 2: The Meltdown.”
In “Meltdown,” the sub-zero community of freak animals is in for a rude awakening. Life as they know it (a never-ending pool party where predator and prey take turns on icy-water slides) is coming to an end. Ice is rapidly melting, and the water level is rising. All of the animals decide that the best thing to do is travel to the other end of “the valley” where there is rumored to be a safe-haven. The traveling herd includes Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), a sloth called Sid (John Leguizamo) and Diego, a saber-tooth tiger (Denis Leary).
Meltdown aside, Manny is being picked on for being the last of his kind, that is until he meets Ellie (Queen Latifah) and her “brothers” Crash and Eddie (Sean William Scott and Josh Peck) who just happen to be opossums. Over the next hour, Manny tries to woo Ellie with his suave moves and charming personality. And lets not forget that there are a few cuts to the adventures of Scrat, that frustrated squirrel who just can’t seem to get that acorn.
While there really isn’t much to be said about the first film, the sequel should be put in a class by itself. The two seem to be cut from entirely different grades of film yet still maintaining the same setting, time period and characters.
Where the first film kept a safe distance from the edge of the comedy cliff, the sequel dives right over and really delivers it to the audience in a surprisingly hilarious 90 minutes.
“Meltdown” was more enjoyable than the original – not only because of the clever lines, ridiculous and comical circumstances, but more importantly due to the addition of a few dozen memorably odd and bizarre characters that never actually walk the planet. Well, maybe they did.
Fox must have figured out that in the ever-growing world of computer animated films, witty dialogue, action, and relatable odd characters equals comedy gold and a pleased general audience.