Ice Age: Continental Drift is great for kids, OK for adult Mojos

Has it really been 9 years since the first Ice Age?  The entertaining story of Sid, Diego and Manny getting through the melting of the ice and meeting others like them are in their fourth movie now.  The fourth entry can be tough, because the actors and audience can grow apart from each other.

Animated movies can defy this trend because adult voices don’t change and if you produce them at regular intervals then you can segue between generations.

In the latest Ice Age Manny, Diego and Sid are joined by a pack of teenage wooly mammoths, a pack of surly pirates and Sid’s Granny, voiced by Wanda Sykes.  The new characters help move the movie along nicely, with a couple of surprises and sharp animation.  It generated a couple good laughs from me and it was an enjoyable movie.

On the downside, the 3D was not necessary and the amount of singers being used as vocal talent in the movie was distracting.  There was no singing mind you, that’s just a pet peeve of mine.  Cross marketing singers who have brand value to do voices seems desperate, but it probably works.  In good voice over news, Peter Dinklage’s Captain Gutt is entertaining and an asset to the movie.

However, I’m a middle aged guy who sometimes thinks too much about marketing and pop culture.  I took my 11 year old niece to Ice Age with me.  She is close to the target demographic…there I go thinking too much again.  Here’s what she thought about the movie:

Ice age 4 was a fantastic movie! I would recommend it to everyone! I thought it was great considering it was the fourth version. It was that amazing because of the adventure of getting lost in the middle of sea, courage of going up against life threatening creatures, and the end that was relieving and happy. There is a little love and romance as well. My dad even thought it was one of the best animated films he’s ever seen! The three main characters are always hilarious together stern, dumb, and 
accidentally funny. I know you”ll love it.                                   

Daddy Mojo’s Niece 

Apparently the younger generation liked the movie a whole lot better than I did. I’m taking the nieces to the movies more often.  They’ll write up what they think about it as well so you have an idea if it’s a good fit for your children who are between 7 and 11.

As Ice Age: Continental Drift stands, children 13 and under will really enjoy it and adults will like too, some much more than others.