Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Sub-Zero Heroes
Get ready to "chill-out" with the "cool" animated family hit "Ice Age". During the great migration, a moody mammoth (Ray Romano), a dim-witted sloth (John Leguizamo) and a devilish sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) become the unlikely guardians of a lost human child. Together, they will embark on a journey across icy glaciers and countless dangers to return the child to his tribe. "Ice Age" is a remarkably entertaining family spectacle that's full of comic energy. The story is fast-paced, hilarious and heartfelt. The movie contains some funny moments and memorable characters. Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo deliver some fine comic performances. The CGI animation is stunning with impressive lifelike landscapes.The "Ice Age" DVD succeeds any previous Fox DVD. Presented in both full screen and widescreen formats, the DVD contains flawless picture quality with excellent sharpness and color detail. The 5.1 digital sound is engaging and very well executed. This 2-disc special edition DVD contains a wide range of supplemental extras including filmmakers' commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scene featurettes, trailers, multiple audio options, and the new animated short "Scrat's Missing Adventure". Overall, this DVD scores an "A".
Rating:  - cute kid's show
While Ice Age does have adult themes running through it (and a few adult jokes), it doesn't have the broad appeal that you find with Shrek, Toy Story, or Monsters, Inc. But it is a good movie to sit down with the whole family to watch. There's little violence and no sexual content. The animation is a little cartoony--but the animators aren't shooting for realistic here, they are looking for more of a 'Shrek' type look. It has its charm. It does have a strong cast. I'd never have pictured Ray Romano as a mammoth, but his dead pan delivery does fit well with the personality of a gigantic mammoth. Dennis Leary plays the saber-tooth tiger, but holding Leary back to a PG rating takes away from his appeal. Still, he does a fairly good job with what he has, and the funniest moments in the movie come from his interaction with John Leguizamo, who is brilliant as the sloth. Cedric the Entertainer, Jack Black, and Gorin Visjnic (casting him as the leader of the tigers was a stroke of genius, I wish there had been more scenes featuring him) have small supporting roles. The dvd contains all kinds of extras, but it is the short animation 'Bunny' that really makes this dvd worth buying (and the cave painting scene in the movie). You can see the animators genius there. This isn't a dvd you want to rush out to buy, but one you might want to put on your list of dvds to get.
Rating: - 4 1/2 Stars-Jam Packed 2-Disc Set, Must buy if you have kids
This is yet another great animated movie that has been a hit, ever since Toy Story the animated movie genre is on fire. This very funny movie features the voices of some of today's top stars including Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Dennis Leary, Jack Black, and Cedric the Entertainer.A team of "sub-zero heroes" band together to save a human infant in this digitally animated feature from Oscar-winning director Chris Wedge, whose unique lighting software (called "Ray Tracing") sets his visual style apart from earlier CGI efforts. Twenty thousand years ago, the Earth is overrun by freezing temperatures in an Ice Age that is sending all manner of critters scattering in the path of encroaching glaciers. When a lost human infant is discovered, an unlikely quartet of misfits forms to return it to its mother: Manny, a depressed woolly mammoth (Ray Romano); Sid, a fast-talking sloth (John Leguizamo); an acorn-crazed squirrel named Scrat (Wedge); and the devilish saber-toothed tiger named Diego (Denis Leary). Before they can complete their mission, the reluctant compatriots will brave pits of boiling lava, dangerous caverns of ice, and even a traitorous plot within their midst. Ice Age (2002) also features the voices of Jack Black, Jane Krakowski, and Goran Visnjic. Riding a wave of good feeling toward animated films, The Ice Age made a jaw-dropping 46 million dollars in its opening weekend, in turn setting a new March record and reversing the fortunes of Fox's animation wing following the disappointing Titan A.E. (2000). An instant contender for the 2002 Best Animated Feature Oscar, The Ice Age can be derivative in its approach nonetheless. The central relationship between a dyspeptic woolly mammoth (Ray Romano) and the talkative sloth who follows him (John Leguizamo) is Shrek all over again, their guardianship of a lost human baby has shades of Monsters, Inc., and the prehistoric migration milieu even triggers unfortunate Dinosaur flashbacks. But beyond its basic structure, which must hew closely to standard guidelines to be successful, The Ice Age is a glittering fiesta of images bolstered by clever, laugh-out-loud set pieces. The animation itself is edgier than its closest digital contemporaries, mingling styles that recall claymation and old Hanna-Barbera cartoons into a finely detailed, visually arresting patchwork. The fact that it doesn't directly resemble an existing style is rare in an industry where imitation is not only commonplace, but expected (see Dreamworks' first forays into Disney-style animation). The film's great running joke finds a squirrel chasing an acorn between converging glaciers, avoiding extinction in improbable ways. It also scores with set pieces in which the characters slip down a sort of ice cavern water slide, and steal melons from a band of apocalypse-fearing dodos, who have a hard time staying alive. The Ice Age shows mastery of how to underuse its dialogue, as well, including the fascinating choice to leave the humans voiceless. The comic relief role usually has a high irritation quotient, but Leguizamo's lispy, slurring voice is surprisingly tolerable. And the moments of complete silence are the most notable, as when a wall of cave drawings recounts the sad loss of the mammoth's family. The complete package is one of the more satisfying, not to mention technically accomplished, family movies to come along in years. DVD Features include Audio Commentary, Animated Short Film, Behind the Scenes HBO Special, Making of Documentary, 3 Interactive games, Deleted Scenes, 6 Production Featurettes, 3 Interactive animation studios, Theatrical Trailers, Teaser Trailers, Promo Slots, and 8 DVD-Rom games.
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