Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Reviews

This film is a major step down compared to how good the first film is and it just gets worse for the ice age series from here. The jokes range from almost tolerable to just okay but the film has a slow pace, not interesting new characters, John Leguizamo has gone from funny to annoying, the mini sloths are obnoxious as all hell, and the love story between Manny and Ellie is not interesting or compelling at all.

on par with the first in the series. decent characters and a good concept, average humor and execution. overall, decent family fun.

I like how they use the realtime events in Earth's ancient history as guidelines for the continuing adventures in this franchise. This time the nicely accurate problem of the Ice Age coming to a slow end and massive pending floods risking the lives of everything.

We are introduced to a whole bunch of mammal families in this film, all kinds of small to large creatures that now live and play with our original trio. The first impression you get instantly is this time its really aimed at the kids route. There are cute little furry things with big eyes running around with their parents looking after them, more silly childish little visual gags and of course the eventual introduction of female mammoth 'Ellie'.
The new mammoth also brings two little sidekick creatures with her that use modern slang with visual references from time to time, clearly to appeal to the whole spectrum of young people. By far the worst characters in the new film and always a mistake to go down that route.

The plot is simple again (kids film remember), all the creatures must escape their current home within a large valley because it will flood, not too original this time. Predictably this entails the same kind of japes that we saw in the first film but merely with new mammals to join in. The new mammoth voiced by Queen Latifah also predictably adds a nice cuddly romance into the fold which for myself (and possibly other male adults) kinda made things a bit lame.

The two sea reptiles that pursue the team are a nice menacing touch. They don't look too nasty obviously but its cool to see all various types of prehistoric creatures being used, factual or not doesn't matter here.

Voices are all the same which is good continuity. This mean we do get more greatness from Leguizamo as 'Sid' who is still easily the best character here. Latifah is a pleasant surprise as 'Ellie' with her quite soothing peaceful voice but all the other characters are more generic, annoying, forgettable and merely filler for the background.

Being made a good fours years after the first effects have gotten better also. The whole thing still has that nice minimalistic look to it (mainly backgrounds and ice), I still think it has the old Chuck Jones feel about it at times. Character rendering is much sharper this time, especially on fur, not that is was all that bad in the first film. All the characters look really good accept for 'Diego' whose design is much more static, he was the same in the first film. The really impressive moments are water animations and how they pull off wet fur, this impressed me, 'Sid's' fur looking real enough to reach out and touch.

More of a let down for me this one, its still a quality animated film but very much in favour for the youngsters this time. I'm still loving 'Sid' with Leguizamo's top voice and of course you still have 'Scrat' tearing around after his acorn in the excellent running gag/subplot throughout the whole film. Not tired of that lill saber-toothed squirrel yet, that one slither of humour keeps me coming back for more.

I am not a fan of the first "Ice Age" at all really, it just doesn't work for me. However, I do like the sequels. "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" takes the good from the first movie, builds on it by adding funnier characters and moving the story into a good direction. All the characters are back, Manny(Ray Romano), Sid(John Leguizamo), and Diego(Denis Leary) for a new adventure. Here, the ice begins to melt, and the group has to warn the other animals of the impending flood, and try to get them all to safety. Along the way, they meed a mammoth named Ellie(Queen Latifah) who thinks she is a possum with her 2 possum brothers Crash(Sean William Scoot) and Eddie(Josh Beck). The possums and scrat make this movie so much better than the original. Their humor is hilarious, especially Scrat who never gets old(his short movies outside of the full length features are pretty funny). The animation is better, it's more fluid then the first movie. I'm glad this franchise gets better, because franchises usually get worse. Here, they get better and better.

By the end of this film, I feel that the lessons learned are much more powerful than the first film, making me falsify my thoughts. The conclusion of this film teaches you about the strength of family ties and that kind of overshadows a good, but still weak first act. This film revolves around global warming and how the separation of a family once they fall in love, will only make them stronger in the end. It's about a fight to find each other. It may not be the most original idea, but it is sure presented well. I really enjoyed this sequel, but I think they could have went a few different directions. "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" is great at heart, but could have done a little more.

A movie that almost that could've lived up to the first if only they could have kept the things that made the first so special.

Ice Age 2 is another runt computer animated film. The only bits I found funny were the scens featuring scratt and the story just isn't as good as the first Ice Age.

We can admit that ICE AGE has quickly become a long journey through the frigidity and that Scrat, the trademark of all animation who never becomes an old joke, is the only furry creature who saves this first sequel. Queen Latifah is the worst--I hate to say it, because in almost any other movie she is the bomb--and, even though Sid only mentions to Ray Romano's character Manny once that "she completes you", that really seems to be the gist of it: the journey continues, the three (Manny, Sid, and Diego, in case you didn't know) meet another mammoth named Ellie, Sid teases that Manny loves her, and in the end, Manny predictably saves her and falls in love with her. Predictable, right? But if you have a good amount of popcorn handy, and you're watching as a whole family, there's a few laughs and some overall enjoyment to get out of this.

"Maybe we could rapidly evolve into water creatures.
- That's genius, Sid.

Call me Squid."

'Ice Age' was a hit and the best animation in its release year. It lost the Oscar to 'Spirited Away', an Asian animation but it was so obvious that a sequel would be coming at some point. It took 4 years and 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' was released. It was an even more bigger success than its predecessor but was it better than the original, which I gave a 5 star rating?

As the first one, this sequel also begins with a scene starring Scrat, the sabretooth squirrel. And it comes as no surprise when I'm telling you that he (yep, it's a boy which is shown in the third film) still has an obsession with the damn acorns. The following scene shows the mammals enjoying waterslides and the heat. They've clearly skipped the fact that the ice is melting. When this is proven, the whole bunch start their journey to safer grounds.

On the way, the three protagonists of the first film, Manny, Sid and Diego, meet two opossums that suffer from really bad ADHD. They introduce the bunch to their sister, Ellie, who is in fact a mammoth but believes to be an opossum. Manny, who was sure that he would be the last of his species, is happy about the truth that he is not alone. Will Manny convince Ellie that she is not what she believes before it is too late? And by late, I mean before the two hungry water beasts rip 'em apart! The horror...

If 'Ice Age' looked great, this sequel looks even better. The film is richer in detail and the enhancement of character design has made 'em even more alive.

There's some new characters with Ellie the mammoth, played by Queen Latifah and two opossums, played by Seann William Scott and Josh Peck. Queen Latifah contributes with an excellent role as the lovable mammoth who amusingly believes to be an opossum. The two opossums have probably been created to give equally as many laughs as Sid the sloth but it's just not possible. For example the scene were the miniature sloths capture Sid and hold him as their God is one of the funniest scenes in the film. Scrat succeeds to deliver, again, several funny scenes and in the end scene, these two hilarious characters are united. Almost has the same magic as De Niro and Pacino in 'Heat'...

But is it as good as the first one? Here it goes: The story is less sympathetic than its predecessor and it feels as if the makers have wanted to make more of a faster, funnier etc film. But more isn't necessarily better. 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' lacks the charm, wit and heart of its predecessor but is in no way a bad sequel. The film itself is a fun ride but like so many other sequels, it just doesn't recapture the same feeling as with 'Ice Age'.

B-

I like the Ice Age series for its entertaining characters, which must be great at educating kids about natural history, but this story suffers from the curse of sequel writers' fatigue. The only memorable line was when Sid mocks Manny about the extinction of the mammoths with some alternative lyrics to Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth".

Funny and enjoyable.

An irritatingly inferior sequel. Shame.

Not far from being as good as the first, but not quiiiiiiite...

blerg

the second doesnt disappoint whilst keeping to the plot of wy we love the characters nd ice age we are introduced to another loveable character (queen latifah) and this mammounth believing shes a posum is funny as hell, the second instalment of ice age doesnt lose its humour and s just as fun as the first one !!
Really worth a watch!!

Good follow-up and just as entertaining as the first one in my view. Let's hope the third installment keeps the same high quality, and doesn't do a Shrek 3. Because I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we've had enough now of disappointing and lackluster sequels.

Definitely as good as the first, with new and old characters, this movie is a great watch for both kids and adults alike.

Disappointing when compared to the hilarious original.

Cute Movie