(spoiler free)
It’s been fourteen years since we first meet Sid, Manny & Diego. Since then the Ice Age series has spawned four sequels, several shorts and television specials. There is definite quality in the original film and I don’t even remember disliking the first sequel. However, I can’t comment on numbers three and four in the series as I never bothered to see them but something must have gone well because here we are at number five! In this installment Scrat goes to space and the rest of the Ice Age gang are fighting against a huge meteor hurtling towards earth.
If we’re going by history I suppose there is some merit to this storyline but the way in which it is told here is just so bizarre that everything seems wrong and so far away from the simple but effective beginnings of this franchise. As I already mentioned in this installment we see Scrat venture into space, why, to give some context and rationale for the plot I guess. Unfortunately this means that on numerous occasions the audience has to endure Scrat hopelessly trying to catch that nut of his, like seriously we’re five films in now just catch the bloody acorn. These gags were only funny in the first film, I’m actually quite astounded that this franchise is still trying to get laughs from them. The film as a whole isn’t funny enough either. The odd line of dialogue will make you chuckle but as a whole most of the gags go without a laugh. It’s a shame that there isn’t much fun about the film either, it lacks a lot of originality in parts which is understandable five films in. However, where the film tries to make up for this it just goes way too far past being original that things just seem ridiculous and the film ends up lacking in a visual identity.
Lots has changed since the first few films, Manny has daughter, Diego’s got a missus and Sid has a Granny now. Thankfully it’s not too hard to catch up and work out who is who. There is actually a really massive cast of film and TV personalities involved with this film, you’ll spend many parts of the film trying to work out who is voicing who. ‘Collision Course’ sees the return of Simon Pegg’s character Buck from the third installment and at first it seems that he is going to steal the show. Although this quickly changes when his character adopts a very odd storyline which is never really explained. The other standout voice performer would have to be Nick Offerman who plays a Dino-bird and is the closest thing the film has to a villain. His dynamic with his children was probably the funniest thing about the film and they have the best chemistry out of all the characters, maybe it’s just because they seem fresh whilst everything else seems recycled? This aside the voice cast can’t do much to lift this lazy and forgettable animation to anything near above average.
So whilst there are a couple of funny elements to ‘Ice Age: Collision Course’ too many of the other gags fall flat. Nothing feels particularly up-to-date here and those elements that are original misfire terribly. Unless you feel somewhat attached to these characters I can’t see much reason to buy a ticket and just know that for the entirety of the film I was routing for the meteor.
Rating – 3/10
Question: What is your favourite animated sequel?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)
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