Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs DVD review

Blue Sky Studios returns to the glaciers with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, expanding the family of mammoths that now includes Manny (Ray Romano) and Ellie (Queen Latifah), Diego the cat (Denis Leary) Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and the rest of the hilarious bunch.

When the film begins, Ellie is pregnant, Manny is a nervous soon-to-be dad, and Diego impulsively decides to leave the herd, while Sid stumbles upon three eggs hidden in a cave and decides to create a family of his own. Once the eggs hatch, Sid becomes “mama” to three baby T-Rexes. But when the real T-Rex mother returns to her den, she not only takes her babies, but snatches Sid also. So now Ellie, Manny and Diego – who eventually returns – must find Sid.

The family encounters an underground cavern filled with dinosaurs, and meet Buckminster (Simon Pegg) who acts as their guide in this strange place. Buck helps them navigate the good and bad dinosaurs, while trying to find Sid and get back to the surface world safely. Along the way, the acorn-chasing saber-toothed squirrel Scrat returns, continuing his quest to find any and all acorns he can, which is complicated by Scratte, a female version of himself.

Ice Age 3 is fun, but covers all too familiar territory in many ways, featuring humor that – while still funny – is far too reminiscent of the previous two movies. Simon Pegg is easily the highlight of the movie, giving an original and buoyant performance as the entertaining Buck, who saves everyone from certain doom.

For me, Ice Age 3 doesn’t stack up to the previous two films, but it’s sure to appeal to children who’ve followed the series from the beginning.

Bonus Material

Disc One

• A Filmmaker Commentary includes director Carlos Saldanha, co-director Mike Thurmeier, producers John Donkin and Lori Forte, art director Michael Knapp, character designer Peter DeSève, and supervising animator Galen Tan Chu discussing pre-production, scripting, character changes, and technical challenges, among other things.

Disc Two

• Two hilarious Scrat Shorts feature the acorn-loving little guy, including Gone Nutty: Scrat’s Missing Adventure and No Time For Nuts.
• The Sabre-Toothed Squirrel: Natures Nutty Buddy is a featurette of faux-outtakes from a 1950s documentary.
• Scrat: From Head To Toe is a tutorial session on drawing the Scrat character.
• Scrat: Breaking Story and News Report are faux-interviews with two scientists who supposedly discovered Scrat.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making A Scene dissects a scene from the second Ice Age film.
• Buck…Easel to Weasel is a featurette the follows the development and design of the newest member to the Ice Age crew, Buck.
• Falling for Scratte revolves around Scrat’s new love, Scratte, and the work that went into her design.
• Unearthing the Lost World is a behind-the-scenes featurette that centers on the development of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
• Walk The Dinosaur is a music video made up of clips from the film.

Directors: Carlos Saldanha, Mike Thurmeier
Writers: Peter Ackerman, Michael Berg
Cast: Eunice Cho, Karen Disher, Harrison Fahn, Maile Flanagan, Jason Fricchione, Bill Hader, Kelly Keaton, Joey King, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, Allegra Leguizamo, John Leguizamo, Lucas Leguizamo, Clea Lewis, Jane Lynch, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Christian Pikes, Avery Christopher Plum, Joe Romano, Ray Romano, Carlos Saldanha

Original Release Date: July 1, 2009
DVD Release Date: October 27, 2009

Film

Extras

Below is a time-lapse video of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment breaking the Guinness World Record for Ice Sculpture recently at the opening of the ice skating rink, ICE at Santa Monica, California.

Fun Facts about the World Record attempt:

• The Scrat Ice Sculpture stood 45 feet tall
• Over 133,000 lbs. of ice was used, gathered across 4 states
• Months of preparation went into the logistics
• Artists from Blue Sky Studios developed the look of the model
• The previous record for the Tallest Ice Sculpture was 40.28 feet and was achieved by Michel Amann (France) in Ski Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on April 20, 2006.