Movie Review - Ice Age 2 : The Meltdown

For those with little children, perhaps you’ve heard of Ice Age, the 2002 film starring the voice talents of Ray Romano (Manny the Mammoth), John Leguizamo (Sid the Sloth) and Denis Leary (Diego the Saber-Toothed Tiger) and Chris Wedge (director and everyone’s favorite squirrel hunting down a nut, Scrat)? If you haven’t, that’s too bad. Ice Age was a great film for the entire family.

Usually, you can’t strike family comedy gold twice in a lifetime. And almost never with the same characters. Of course, major and not-so major entertainment conglomerations try and try again. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a refreshing anomaly in a world of bad sequels. It’s fresh, funny and very good. In fact, in some ways it may be superior to the original.

This time, Manny, Sid and Diego, who’ve come together to form the most unlikely of herds, are faced with new perils. The Ice Age is just about over. The world is beginning to thaw. As the ice melts, the water is rising dangerously. Fast Tony, voiced by “Tonight Show” host, Jay Leno, is scaring the animals in the hopes of turning a profit on shoddy products that are supposed to ’save their lives’.

Manny calls Fast Tony out as a liar; but then realizes that there is some truth to the doomsday talk. He, Sid and Diego discover when they take a trip to the top of the ice mountain that the water is rapidly rising and a massive flood is imminent in about three days time.

Everyone heads up and moves out. The Eagles, who are sort of hoping that there will be mass destruction - it’s good for their food supply - say there’s a boat at the end of the valley. The animals go without much delay.

Meantime, Manny is still wrestling with the fact that he’s the last mammoth; or, so everyone else believes. He takes some time alone in the forest to think. Instead, he finds a lady mammoth, Ellie (Queen Latifah). Problem is - Ellie thinks she’s a possum. Her extreme-sports-loving brothers, Crash (Sean William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck), love her and don’t do anything to dispel her of the notion.

The “possums” became part of Manny, Sid and Diego’s posse. Together, they have quite an adventurous trip. Sid and Diego try to urge Manny to let the past go and start a new future with Ellie, who eventually realizes she is a mammoth after all. watch this movie on Hotstar Live

If this weren’t enough, the crew has a nasty alligator and his cronie to contend with. The same ones who gave them trouble in the first film and were put on ice have also melted. Time in the ‘cooler’ has done nothing to squash their anger. They’re out for revenge.

As the world is about to end, can Manny and Ellie find love? Will Manny be able to save them all from destruction - and learn to live and love again? These questions of course have positive - and perhaps, stock - answers. The way the movie gets to those answers is still worth the whole trip and the price of admission.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a great movie. It’s entertaining, funny, poignant and just a fantastic way to spend an afternoon with or without the kids.

Let me know what you think of this movie by adding your comments below.