Movie Review: Ice Age 4

PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Ice age continental drift is the fourth film in the series that began with Ice Age, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, and Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Once again, some of your favorite characters are back including Ray Romano as Manny the mammoth, Dennis Leary as Diego the saber tooth tiger, and John Leguizamo as Sid the sloth.

Our animal friends have made it through what seems like the worst of things in previous movie plots, but now they're faced with the earth breaking apart.

The story begins as the animals get separated and must overcome a band of iceberg sailing pirates to get back to the family they left behind.

To survive, the cast of characters has to make it through what seems like survivor the reality series-- basically they have to outwit, outplay, and outlast their enemies.

Flying chipmunks and angry orangutans aside, the plot is overly simple and perfect for the young ones to grasp.

Also back in the film is Scrat, our prehistoric squirrel, who has been chasing an acorn through all of the Ice Age films. Soon, the audience as well as the characters in the film finds out that Scrat is actually to blame for the continental drift. Basically, the lesson comes across loud and clear here -- squirrels are really, really dumb.

I enjoyed Peter Diklage as Captain Gut, and Portsmouth's own Wanda Sykes with some great one-liners as Sid's Granny!

Overall, the animation is still good, but for me the plot was weak and seemed a bit thrown together. The little kids in my screening laughed a lot and really enjoyed it, though. I doubt it will be a classic, but it’s worth a cool theater for a couple of hours on a blistering hot day.

And one more thing: 3D. Now I usually see films in 3D and advise that for the most part they are good to see in 2D. This time, however, I saw the film in 2D, and there seemed like an awful lot of gratuitous 3D things flying at you that would enhance some parts of the film. Just two cookies for me.