Moroni's Review of "Ice Age: Continental Drift

Sorry.  The movie blog has been suffering.  Mainly because I have been busy.  Partially due to dread of having to write this review.

My daughter in college has been babysitting for one of my old high school friends.  My daughter tells me that my friend seldom puts on kids' movies for her daughter; she doesn't have the patience for them.  I wish that I had that luxury.  But I am here to tell you - once you have kids, you will watch your fill of children's movies - at the theater or at home.  You may want to spend your evening watching Sho-time television series or Skinemax.  But forget it.  Those days are over.  It's all kiddie movies for you, and you will spend all of your spare time will be spend watching movies with the kiddos, that the kiddos have picked.

That said, I have watched the first three "Ice Age" movies many times.  Many, many times.  My kids love them.  My wives love them.  To me, they are mildly entertaining, but mostly formulaic.  In other words, they are not good enough to watch them over and over and over again, the way my kids like to watch them.

This summer, I took my (then) wife and kids to the movies.  I let them pick which one we could see,  I was hoping they would pick "The Dark Knight Rises".  I mean - they're kids, and this is Batman.  But they picked "Ice Age: Continental Drift" instead, the fourth movie in the "Ice Age" franchise.

The familiar characters return - Manny the mammoth, his partner Ellie, Diego the sabertooth tiger, and Sid the sloth, along with other familiar characters like Scratt.  This time, the herd is split up by a cataclysmic schism in the continent.  Our regular characters take refuge with a gang of pirates sailing the seas on board a floating iceberg.  Of course, the pirates turn out to be bad guys.

I can say that there is nothing remarkable that sets this film apart from the other three.  Sure, there are some funny moments, but none of them enough to redeem the film.  My favorite character in all of the films is Sid, the sloth with a speech impediment, played brilliantly by John Leguizamo.  The villain in this movie is an ape named Gutt - played surprisingly by Peter Dinklage, who is better known in his role as the dwarf Tyrion Lannister in the "Game of Thrones" series.  I would never have guessed that it was him.

So I kind of had to endure the movie.  But the kids loved it (as did the ex-wife).  And that makes the whole thing worth it.  Maybe next time I can watch what I want...  Who am I kidding?