So, the usual cast of characters return in this movie - Manny, Sid and Diego. Scrat, who only gets the credits and ending in the first Ice Age, gets a lot more screentime in this feature and is a laugh a minute. Who would've thought that an animated prehistoric squirrel obsessed with gathering his nut could produce so much slapstick humour.
This time the gang are faced with the melting of the Ice Age and the migration to "the boat" at the end of the valley. Like the first movie, it is the journey that matters and in this case we meet the possums - Crash, Eddie and Ellie - and the fast talking Fast Tony who is brought to life by Jay Leno.
The possums bring a manic energy to the film which counterbalances Manny's more conservative character - see the slingshot scene to appreciate this - and Diego's reticence. There is a particularly funny scene where Diego and Sid first meet the possums which reminds me of my youth and the simple mechanical games we used to be able to play in the amusement arcades.
You will enjoy this movie, I'm sure. It is not a weak second version, dragging out the jokes of the first. It nods to and reinforces the fun things from the first Ice Age, but does not slavishly and unthinkingly redo them. It actually develops the characters along, while maintaining the gags and laughter we all really enjoy seeing in kids movies.
For the fact that it kept me laughing or smiling nearly the entire way through, I have to give this a four out of five.
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