Issue date: 6/30/09 Section: Features

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Although I have not seen the previous two Ice Age's, I cannot help but think the third one is a way for 20th Century Fox to get a cut of the 3-D animation profits of Disney and Pixar. However, I doubt the children targeted care about the profit increase movie studios have seen this year, despite lower ticket sales.

I went into the movie hoping to see a good film because I had heard good things about the previous movies. However, I could not get into the story, which has a few holes. First off, even the target audience of 7-year-olds would not believe that there is a secret world of dinosaurs still living below ground (yet still getting sunlight) during the ice age. It is also quite convenient that Sid happens to find the secret entrance to the dinosaur world while feeling left out of the ragtag family the Ice Age series has followed for three films.

I wish the chronological brain lapse this movie expects audiences to believe was the only problem, but poor acting sinks this film. Once again, the target audience might not notice, but for older viewers, I must say Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is an example of why no one should hire Ray Romano for films. I wish I could say everyone else gave a better performance, but Queen Latifah checked her trademark attitude at the door and Denis Leary left his cigarettes and booze at home.

One semi-bearable performance was given by the gifted Simon Pegg playing the weasel known as Buck. This swashbuckling weasel lives the life of adventure, freedom and sometimes insanity in the lost dinosaur world. When the original gang gets into trouble, Buck bails them out and becomes their guide to finding Sid. Also, a toast to the animators for their work on Scrat the squirrel whose storyline was better than the rest of the film. Watching Scrat find love and being torn between his new love and the acorn was near Disney and Pixar animated short style, but interwoven into the movie.

Overall, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is mostly unentertaining, hard to believe and will give you the feeling that you have better things to do in your life. Just as the dinosaurs are extinct and going to stay that way, I believe Ice Age 3 is the meteor that is going to make this series extinct.

Logan West is a senior political science major.

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