
Ice Age: The Meltdown
2006, Kids and family/Comedy, 1h 31m
145 Reviews 250,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
Despite its impressive animation and the hilarious antics of the saber-toothed squirrel Scrat, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown comes up short on the storytelling front. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Cast & Crew
Manny
Voice
Sid
Voice
Diego
Voice
Ellie
Voice
Scrat
Voice
Eddie
Voice
News & Interviews for Ice Age: The Meltdown
Critic Reviews for Ice Age: The Meltdown
All Critics (145) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (82) | Rotten (63)
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The storyline wanes towards the end and, from the kids' point of view, the whole package lacks momentum.
June 24, 2006 | Full Review… -
Carlos Saldanha's mix of race-against-time action and eco-friendly propaganda is actually an improvement on the original, not least for giving its funniest character -- acorn-hunting rodent Scrat -- a lot more to do.
April 11, 2006 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review… -
In its untouched-by-human-hand way, it's not bad and, as in the first film, the funniest moments involve the half-rat, half-squirrel Scrat.
April 8, 2006 | Full Review… -
A watered-down likeness that curiously turns disaster flick in its too-scary third act.
April 8, 2006 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review… -
Watching this zoo of long-vanished quadrupeds, you're left with an eerie message for our own warming times: They fought the thaw, and the thaw won.
April 4, 2006 -
It isn't always out of whack, and I liked the way the writers tried to make Diego's fear of water into a universal metaphor relating to life in general, but the picture overall just doesn't work.
April 3, 2006 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for Ice Age: The Meltdown
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Dec 18, 2015The Scrat moments kept me up through the entire movie.EpicLadySponge t Super Reviewer
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Oct 18, 2012An interesting sequel dealing with a different array of social issues than the first one did, entertaining, but Scrat steals the show, hands down.Jason 123 D Super Reviewer
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Jul 20, 2012I 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.Phil H Super Reviewer
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Jul 07, 2012I 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.Everett J Super Reviewer
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Quotes
Manny: | Come on Diego! There's a entire continent moving faster then you. |
Sid: | We're gonna live! ...We're gonna DIE! |
Ellie: | What about me is attractive? |
Manny: | Your butt? |
Ellie: | What about it? |
Manny: | It's huge! |
Ellie: | That is very sweet! |
Manny: | I'm not going extinct! |
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