Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – DVD Review
DVD Review – Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
I’d never been introduced to the Ice Age films until this most recent outing. Oh sure, I’d heard of them and was mildly interesting in seeing the first one, but for whatever reason I never got to it. The first did receive pretty decent reviews while the second was pretty much reviled by anyone under seven. Fox still thinks there’s an appeal (or they heard the term “STRIKE!”) and have decided to give us a third entry in the franchise.
And I’m sure the film will play well to kids, as well it should. It’s not exactly a terrible movie, but it’s not without it’s problems either. The biggest one in my opinion stems from how unnatural the actors seem to be at times. A couple of times I felt the actors were talking “at” each other rather than “to” each other. The best example I can use is in the begging when Diego and Manny are having a discussion. Denis Leary and Ray Romano seem to be operating on different plains.
It’s a theme the film builds upon over the course of it’s run time and no doubt it’s a nice one to follow. Things didn’t really kick off for me though until we’re introduced to Buck voiced by a true talent in Simon Pegg. He’s silly without going overboard and gives the picture a much needed shot to the arm that it was teetering with before he came into the fold. He’s Solid Snake but more outlandish, and the film is way better for having him.
That’s what surprised me most about the film was that I was able to feel something good for a character. A sense of depression came to me when Buck wanted to go back. I wasn’t crying my eyes out but at the same time I wanted him to go back with the rest in case there’s an Ice Age 4. Touching on Sid though, I absolutely hated him. Understandably he’s the village idiot but there was something in John Leguizamo’s voice that didn’t sit well with me. Whatever it was had me rolling my eyes anytime he ungraced us with his presence.
Because of the dedication to family, and also an interesting point. Plus, you’d be hard pressed to find a group or family that doesn’t have the moron of the bunch (some parts of my own family would make the case that it’s me, but they can snuff it.) The point Andy is making is that Sid, regardless of how bad of an idiot he acts like, is still a part of their family. Thus they feel the need to protect him and rescue him, even if he’s the black sheep. We might be being a little bit too analytical of a kid’s film, but it’s nice to see that some thought was put forth rather than none.
I fully expected to come into this getting another silly, asinine kids film. While at times this is what the movie gave me, I came away liking parts and was completely taken with Buck. In any case though, the film will play fine to it’s audience and at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.
7 out of 10
The Video
Editor’s Note – I viewed this with a DVD Screener sent by Fox.
Perfection, personified…at least when nothing is moving too quickly. When the trio of dinosaurs zips across the screen during an early scene, they look like Ignignokt and Err. I’ve read reports on the actual DVD/Blu-ray that it features a much better transfer. I will be fair though and null this section of the review as I know for a fact this isn’t the final quality.
The Audio
While the audio on this screener fared better than it’s visual brother, I still refuse to properly judge it until I hear the right transfer. What I heard was fine, but in the interest of fairness, I don’t want to make judgements on an inferior transfer.
The Extras
The only extra prominent on disc one is a commentary track from the Blue Sky animation folks. There’s really no interesting info the troupe delves into as they’re more concerned with patting their own back. It’s fine to love what you’ve created, but we as fans would like to know information as to what went into to producing and making this project.
The second disc which is apparently labeled The Scrat Pack kicks things off with with two shorts featuring the popular squirrell tited “Gone Nutty” and “No Time for Nuts”. “The Saber-Tooth Squirrel” steals the show as it poses as a faux-1950s education reel. “Learn to Draw Scrat” does exactly what it says and teaches one how to draw the lovable guy. Two of the more interesting aspects are “Breaking Story” and “News Report” which are promotional pieces masked as fake news stories. Both are entertaining and worth a look.
“Fox Movie Channel Presents: Making the Scene” is a short EPK (electronic press kit for those who don’t know) that just details the basics. “Falling for Scratte” is a decent look at the development of Scrat’s nemesis/love interest. “Buck: From Easel to Weasel” takes a gander at how Simon Pegg’s character and the best thing in this film came to pass. “Unearthing the Lost World” features many of the production crew discussing the why’s and how’s of the design of the film and is a pretty good insight. Things are capped off with “Walk The Dinosaur” which features the title song set to film clips. Also, there are DVD-Rom games for the kids entitled Scrat Pinball, Eggshell, and Bubble Trouble.
Outside of one or two interesting pieces, the features here aren’t particularly noteworthy or at all interesting. Some of this is worth a look, like “From Easel to Weasel”, “Unearthing the Lost World” and of course the stuff on Scrat, but the bulk of this feels like fluff.
5 out of 10
Overall
At the end of the day, I enjoyed Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs mainly due to Simon Pegg’s Buck, who acted as my guide through the film’s troublesome spots. While this entry is very problematic, you truthfully can do much, much worse with kids films. I won’t comment on the technical aspects as I don’t feel they’re true to what the final product is, but I will say the extras are something you can certainly live without. There’s nothing here truly mind-blowing, however, if you are the person who has to have it all chances are you’ve already got Blu-ray and should purchase that instead. For everyone else, the single-disc version will be just fine unless you love Scrat. In that case, I recommend this set.
DVD Overall Rating – 6 out of 10
