Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (PG, 87 minutes)

ice age 3
ice age 3

Prehistoric critters still talk modern silliness in this third computer-animated "Ice Age" comedy. The concept has grown funnier with each installment, and each film manages to celebrate diversity and having friends and family from all backgrounds. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" is in 3-D, so kids younger than 8 may really jump when an angry T. rex charges the animal heroes. They're still the same, only more so: Manny the mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), his now-pregnant mate, Ellie (Queen Latifah), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary), along with Ellie's possum foster brothers, Crash (Seann William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck).

Diego is thinking he should leave their cozy coterie to be a hunter again. Manny's feelings are hurt by this. Sid, meanwhile, comes upon three eggs and brings them home to nurture. But they hatch into three toothy baby dinosaurs. Sid, a vegetarian, can barely handle them. The dino-babies' real mother, a huge T. rex, arrives, grabbing her young and Sid. The others follow her, hoping to rescue him. They discover a tropical glade full of all kinds of dinosaurs and are soon pursued by an even larger T. rex than the babies' mother. Running for their lives, they meet Buck (Simon Pegg), a swashbuckling weasel with an eye patch who has taken on the giant T. rex before and offers to help. Scampering close behind all this adventure is Scrat, the squirrel-rat, still chasing after that elusive acorn. This time, Scrat meets Scratte, a seductive female of his species who wants the acorn, too. They tangle -- and tango -- dangerously over it.
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Besides the T. rexes, kids younger than 8 may also cringe when a giant flesh-eating plant swallows two of our heroes, though they're quickly saved. There's also a kind of skeleton graveyard that's a bit creepy. The film includes occasional crude humor (Sid trying to milk a male water buffalo), toilet humor and mild sexual humor.

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