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ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS

Starring Voices: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Sean William Scott, Josh Peck and Simon Pegg

Directed by: Carlos Saldanha, Michael Thurmeier

Rated PG for mild humor and peril

Genre: Animated/Adventure Comedy

By John Delia

Extremely kid friendly, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs makes its way into theaters providing a fun time for the youngsters. Adults will probably enjoy the film as long as they are accompanying children. If you are over the age of 12 and have already seen Ice Age and its sequel, then you may feel like this one is more of the same.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs continues the saga of the mammoths Ellie (Latifah) and Manny (Romano) as they trek to find a home in which they can settle. This time however, Ellie is pregnant and her time is near for giving birth. The rest of the tribe, Diego (Leary), Sid (Leguizamo) and the possums Crash (Scott) and Eddie (Peck) are content to go along for the ride. But Sid as usual can’t seem to enjoy himself unless he is poking into places he shouldn’t and this time turning up with some Dinosaur eggs that belong to a Tyrannosaurs Rex. Much to the delight of Sid, the eggs hatch and think that he is there mother causing some serious questions on the part of the other members of the tribe. When the real momma lizard comes looking for her children, things get very dicey.

The animated comedy has several different storylines going all at once including Scrat (Chris Wedge) meeting Scratte (Karen Disner) a female squirrel who takes him for a heavenly ride. This is where I perked up. The two are very funny with Scrat doing his Willey Coyote impression as he has in the previous two films. This time we are invited to see a little different romance in the scraggly squirrel.

Another sequence introduces you to Buck (Pegg), a one-eyed weasel who has been hunting the great white Dinosaur that has been terrorizing the land. To me it was the funniest part of the film and Simon Pegg’s voice coupled with some great animation save the film from being just another sequel.

The film was reviewed in the 3D format that really doesn’t add much to the production. So if the movie isn’t available in 3D at your local theater, you aren’t missing much. The movie should be fun for the kiddies and although you may snooze a little as I did through scenes with Ray Romano’s character, Sid, Scrat and Buck should save your day.

FINAL ANALYSIS: A fun film for kiddies. (4 of 5 Palm Trees)