ICE AGE COLLISION COURSE – Review

The Ice Age films are generally good at being “good enough”, but the fifth installment, ICE AGE COLLISION COURSE barely rises to that low bar. The filmmakers behind this franchise have proven to be much better at convincing parents to bring their kids to see their movies than they are at actually making these movies any good.

The lazy, sit-commy side of ICE AGE COLLISION COURSE’s story finds Manny the wooly mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), forgetting his wedding anniversary with Ellie (a barely-there Queen Latifah) and disapproving of his daughter Peaches’s (Keke Palmer) fiancé (the admittedly obnoxious) Julian (Adam DeVine). The more interesting, ARMEGGEDON-inspired action side finds that half rat/half squirrel Scrat’s pursuit of his acorn has taken him to other planets which results in a meteor hurtling destructively towards earth and Buck the weasel’s (Simon Pegg) attempts to stop it.

ICE AGE COLLISION COURSE is harmless, and when it focuses on Scrat‘s  determined obsession with that acorn, it’s occasionally amusing –  a film that might mesmerize the under-10 crowd but will most likely fail to keep their parents distracted. Sure, the characters are sort of cute, the voices are silly, and everyone learns the lessons they need to learn about friendship and family etc. But I think kids are smarter than this movie and way too much of the comedy here is uninspired. With most of the characters from the first four films plus a few new ones, there’s barely time to adequately explore anyone’s conflicts, leaving the series’ two original central characters, Romano’s Manny and especially Dennis Leary’s saber tooth Diego, relegated to the background. On the plus side, the movie looks fantastic, the 3D has decent depth, and Pegg’s one-eyed weasel is such a deranged scene-stealer that I wouldn’t mind seeing this character in a film of his own. I also liked Neil deGrasso Tyson as Neil deBuck Weasel, mixing in a few facts about our solar system with all the nonsense. ICE AGE COLLISION COURSE will satisfy its young fan base and is bound to make a ton of money, but at this point, the series is less an artistic pursuit and more a business deal. If you’ve already taken the tots to FINDING DORY and SECRET LIFE OF PETS you may be stuck, so keep your expectations low. ‘

2 of 5 Stars