Ice Age: Collision Course is the fifth instalment in one of the longest animated franchises of all time. Kids will definitely enjoy this humour-filled film, but the adults will be less amused by the stereotypical animated comedy. It's not perfect, but it's definitely a great end to the Ice Age series.
There's no way to start an Ice Age film without our favourite squirrel, Scrat. In his attempts to hide his acorn, he ends up in a flying saucer and then space, setting off a chain of events that send an asteroid hurtling towards Earth.
On Earth, each character is having a host of problems, a tradition to the start of every Ice Age movie. Of course, all these petty matters are turned awry when a meteor shower comes pouring down from the heavens. But that's just the beginning; a huge asteroid as big as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs is speeding towards the planet.
And so starts off a series of events in the gang's quest to somehow stop the huge asteroid from colliding with Earth and wiping out life as we know it.
The return of Buck from Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was a great choice. As he did in Ice Age 3, he's back at the front of the pack leading the way to stopping the asteroid. His lunatics and plain insanity are funny, bound to garner laughs from everyone.
The antagonists of this story, a trio of flying dinosaurs, are fairly weak in their influence and overall ''scariness''. While they are a little threatening in the short amount of screen time they receive, they lack a certain menacing feel to them, only supported by how quickly they turn to the ''good side'' by the end. Considering how good a job was done on making Captain Gutt, from Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, scary, this trio could have done with some work.
The story of Sid falling in love with Brooke, a new character, is also fairly abysmal, more so than that of Diego and Shira in the previous movie. It's unrealistic; they propose for marriage only after 12 minutes! Clearly this hastiness is part of the joke, but this is still an evident attempt by the writers to cram more into the film. Even so, it's great to see Sid find the love of his life...finally!
The Shangri Llama, which featured in the trailer, falls completely flat, barely making any screen time in the film. He's supposedly meant to save the entire pack from the asteroid. But when he does make an appearance, he's a whingey, demanding character that if anything does a better job at antagonising than the three dinosaurs.
One of the more obvious underlying themes of the story features Manny and his typical over-protectiveness over Peaches, who has just gotten engaged with her fiancé Julian, another new character. The morals of trust are explored, even if a little too quickly, between Manny and his to-be son-in-law Julian, along with faith between Manny and Ellie, and their daughter Peaches.
The biggest (and possibly only) improvement on Ice Age 1 is the high quality animation, which is obviously a given considering the 15-year gap between the films.
Starting off with 3 main protagonists in Ice Age 1, this film now has almost ten. This brings with it less screen time for some characters. As was the case with the antagonists and the Shangri Llama, Diego saw barely any time in the limelight. The writers attempt to create a story of how Diego, alongside Shira, want to have children but can't due to how scary they appear to kids, but again this story completely dissolves away.
Perhaps this is the biggest problem with Ice Age 5; there's quite a lot going on. It's not that it is hard to follow, more so that not enough time can be spent exploring the most important themes, which is partially the problem in all the other Ice Age sequels. Ice Age 1 found this delicate balance, however with the addition of so many characters since, this clearly became difficult.
Ice Age 5 is a film the entire family can enjoy, but it's definitely more suited towards the younger children. This film is not perfect, not even close to reaching the quality of Pixar films, but considering it is the 4th sequel that's understandable. In the end, it's just another Ice Age movie, and you're bound to enjoy this one if you've enjoyed any of the other sequels. It has humour, romance and moralistic themes, and is a film that's enough to entertain the family.
There's no way to start an Ice Age film without our favourite squirrel, Scrat. In his attempts to hide his acorn, he ends up in a flying saucer and then space, setting off a chain of events that send an asteroid hurtling towards Earth.
On Earth, each character is having a host of problems, a tradition to the start of every Ice Age movie. Of course, all these petty matters are turned awry when a meteor shower comes pouring down from the heavens. But that's just the beginning; a huge asteroid as big as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs is speeding towards the planet.
And so starts off a series of events in the gang's quest to somehow stop the huge asteroid from colliding with Earth and wiping out life as we know it.
The return of Buck from Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was a great choice. As he did in Ice Age 3, he's back at the front of the pack leading the way to stopping the asteroid. His lunatics and plain insanity are funny, bound to garner laughs from everyone.
The antagonists of this story, a trio of flying dinosaurs, are fairly weak in their influence and overall ''scariness''. While they are a little threatening in the short amount of screen time they receive, they lack a certain menacing feel to them, only supported by how quickly they turn to the ''good side'' by the end. Considering how good a job was done on making Captain Gutt, from Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, scary, this trio could have done with some work.
The story of Sid falling in love with Brooke, a new character, is also fairly abysmal, more so than that of Diego and Shira in the previous movie. It's unrealistic; they propose for marriage only after 12 minutes! Clearly this hastiness is part of the joke, but this is still an evident attempt by the writers to cram more into the film. Even so, it's great to see Sid find the love of his life...finally!
The Shangri Llama, which featured in the trailer, falls completely flat, barely making any screen time in the film. He's supposedly meant to save the entire pack from the asteroid. But when he does make an appearance, he's a whingey, demanding character that if anything does a better job at antagonising than the three dinosaurs.
One of the more obvious underlying themes of the story features Manny and his typical over-protectiveness over Peaches, who has just gotten engaged with her fiancé Julian, another new character. The morals of trust are explored, even if a little too quickly, between Manny and his to-be son-in-law Julian, along with faith between Manny and Ellie, and their daughter Peaches.
The biggest (and possibly only) improvement on Ice Age 1 is the high quality animation, which is obviously a given considering the 15-year gap between the films.
Starting off with 3 main protagonists in Ice Age 1, this film now has almost ten. This brings with it less screen time for some characters. As was the case with the antagonists and the Shangri Llama, Diego saw barely any time in the limelight. The writers attempt to create a story of how Diego, alongside Shira, want to have children but can't due to how scary they appear to kids, but again this story completely dissolves away.
Perhaps this is the biggest problem with Ice Age 5; there's quite a lot going on. It's not that it is hard to follow, more so that not enough time can be spent exploring the most important themes, which is partially the problem in all the other Ice Age sequels. Ice Age 1 found this delicate balance, however with the addition of so many characters since, this clearly became difficult.
Ice Age 5 is a film the entire family can enjoy, but it's definitely more suited towards the younger children. This film is not perfect, not even close to reaching the quality of Pixar films, but considering it is the 4th sequel that's understandable. In the end, it's just another Ice Age movie, and you're bound to enjoy this one if you've enjoyed any of the other sequels. It has humour, romance and moralistic themes, and is a film that's enough to entertain the family.