Animated children’s movie Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Posted By Fargo Reviews ~ 14th September 2009

Released in July and now playing at Century Ten is the animated children’s movie Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs. When I say children’s movie, I mean it: I would say the appropriate target ages would be 5 – 10, although one of my companions was 12, and he seemed to enjoy the movie a lot.  There is, of course, the usual humor directed at the adults accompanying the kids, but this movie is a little light on that.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself, sitting through most of the movie with a bemused smirk on my face.

The animation is terrific, as is the development of the animated characters.  The story, which of course I won’t divulge, centers around an Ice Age extended family consisting of a pair of mammoths, one of whom is pregnant, a sabre toothed cat, a sloth and a few lesser mammals.  They fall through the ice one day and find themselves in a tropical world inhabited by dinosaurs.  They are guided in their journey in this netherworld by a smart character Buck the weasel.

Their journey involves dealing with the unfamiliar world of the dinosaurs and the world of dinosaurs dealing with them.  The story(written by Peter Ackerman and Michael Berg) is complicated and well constructed.  The adults might enjoy watching it play out.
There are probably lots of Disney-esque messages about family values, accepting who you are and others as they are, as well as some fel good love conquers all ideas. I chose not to think too hard about these issues: I don’t think they were meant to be.

I think most kids will really liike this movie, and there’s enough to entertain most adults.  If you like movies like, for example, Bambi, or rather would like to take your children to it, I think this movie an excellent.  If you want anything else, go somewhere else.

Story:  B+
Animation:  A
Relevance:  Good question.
Entertainment value:  B+