Ice Age (2002)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Directors:

Chris Wedge
Carlos Saldanha (co-director)

Writers:

Michael J. Wilson (story)
Michael Berg (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 March 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Animation | Family | Comedy

Tagline:

The Coolest Event In 16,000 Years.

Plot:

Set during the Ice Age, a sabertooth tiger, a sloth, and a wooly mammoth find a lost human infant, and they try to return him to his tribe.

Plot Keywords:

Ice Age | Ice | Baby | Sloth | Mammoth

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 23 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 6

4:00 PM

FX

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Ray Romano	...	Manfred (voice)
John Leguizamo	...	Sid (voice)
Denis Leary	...	Diego (voice)
Goran Visnjic	...	Soto (voice)
Jack Black	...	Zeke (voice)
Cedric the Entertainer	...	Carl (voice)
Stephen Root	...	Rhino / Start (voice)
Diedrich Bader	...	Saber-Toothed Tiger (voice)
Alan Tudyk	...	Oscar / Dab the Dodo (voice)
Lorri Bagley	...	Female Sloth (voice)
Jane Krakowski	...	Female Sloth (voice)
Peter Ackerman	...	Dodo / Macrauchenia (voice)
P.J. Benjamin	...	Dodo (voice)
Josh Hamilton	...	Dodo / Aardvark (voice)
Chris Wedge	...	Dodo / Scrat (voice)

Also Known As:

The Ice Age (Canada: English title) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild peril.

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:6 (canton of the Grisons) | Denmark:A | Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | Australia:G | USA:PG | Portugal:M/6 | New Zealand:PG | Norway:7 | Argentina:Atp | Brazil:Livre | Canada:G | Finland:K-7 | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | Hong Kong:I | India:U | Netherlands:AL | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Singapore:G | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | Indonesia:SU

Company:

Blue Sky Studios

Trivia:

Some additional character names: the baby is Roshan, his mother is Nadia, his father is Runar. The sabers are Soto, Zeke, Oscar ("haughty saber") and Lenny ("fat saber"). The female sloths in the pool are Jennifer ("He's not much to look at...") and Rachel ("All the sensitive ones get eaten."). The "rhinos" are Carl (the one with thick horns) and Frank (the one with thin horns The source for this information is from an autographed original script purchased at auction. There is a signed COA from 20th Century Fox Archives, auction item number ICE0032.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the fight with the dodos, Diego disappears when Manfred is keeping the melon away from the dodos. When the melon goes flying, Diego is back beside Manfred.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Freaky Mammal: Well, why don't they call it The Big Chill? Or The Nippy Era? I'm just sayin', how do we know it's an Ice Age?
Freaky Mammal: Because... of all the ice.
Freaky Mammal: Well, things just got a little chillier.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Levels (2008)

Soundtrack:

Send Me on My Way

A time in history when animals could talk, but humans couldn't yet!

In what amounts to a throw-back to the early, manually-animated cartoons, "Ice Age" chooses a very simple story around which is wrapped clever and exciting animation. Highly intelligent sabre-tooth tigers want to get revenge for the killing of one of their pack, so plot to steal the baby son of the human tribe leader. A goofy sloth (Lugiezamo) and a kind wooly mammoth (Ray Romano) rescue the child and attempt to find his parents, joined by a sly tiger (Denis Leary) who at first is planning to lead all of them into a corner so his tiger friends can help get the child back and eat the mammoth. But a series of events, and the tiger's being saved by the mammoth, causes all of them to "bond".

The DVD is flawless. The Dolby surround sound is remarkably good, truly surrounding you with sound. The direct digital to DVD video transfer is as good, colorful, and sharp as the other recent ones like "Toy Story 2", "Shrek", and "Monsters Inc." There is a whole second disk of "extras" which take you through the whole animated film-making process. Also a short animated film "Bunny" which won an oscar in 1998. Plus another "short" which shows the little squirrel, 20,000 years later, in an ice block drifting onto a deserted island, and his pounding of a coconut into the ground triggering the continental drift which resulted in the present day continents! Very inventive and funny.

Watching "Ice Age", my wife and I noticed that much of the action and pratfalls reminded us of the old "Roadrunner" cartoons. In the DVD extras the director mentions that those old cartoons of Chuck Jones were the insriration of many of the scenes. Yes, a throw-back to the old manually-animated cartoons, and a worthy tribute.