ICE AGE 4: CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Several years after the events of the herds third outing, Manny, Sid & Diego are happily living the peaceful life. Unfortunately, things don't stay that way for long as the continents begin to shift and break up, forcing our happy herd away from their friends and family. Adrift at sea, the herd soon come into contact with a gang of weird and dangerous pirates, led by the crazed monkey Captain Gut. Now the gang must fend off these insane villains, as well as many other perils, and find their way back home.
I'm not going to try and hide the truth here, I LOVE the Ice Age films. There, I said it, judge me all you want. This family franchise has been one of the funniest, craziest and entertaining film series to come out for quite some time. Now I will admit, I didn't think there was need for a 4th film, as I felt the 3rd one (Dawn Of The Dinosaurs) wrapped everything up quite nicely. The studio execs obviously thought differently, and thus we have Continental Drift. However, I can happily say that after watching this 4th installment, it isn't just a case of slapping another film together for the sake of it.
The characters continue to be developed in ways that don't feel forced or particularly contrived, and a few new characters are thrown into the mix and developed nicely throughout the film. The introduction of Sid's grandma (played hilariously by Wanda Sykes) leads the film in a more slapstick direction, which is no bad thing. Given this is meant to be a family film, it's important to put all sorts of comedy into it, and the writers have certainly stretched to every possible area of comedy conceivable for a family film. There is no doubt that no matter what age you are, you'll find something to laugh at in this film, whether it's Scrat's unfortunate mishaps, or Manny's deadpan comebacks. If you don't laugh at anything in this film, well then check your pulse.
As for the actual story, well it's simplistic enough for the little ones to follow, whilst having many different arcs and action scenes to keep the grown ups entertained. The action scenes are well constructed, always easy to follow with no hasty editing (though I suppose that would be hard to do in a CG film) and definitely entertaining. The only problem I do have with this film, is that Scrat (the lovable maniac!) is not in the film enough, but apart from that, I'm struggling to find anything to dislike about this film. And what do I think is the best thing about the film, well now that would be telling. I never like to spoil a film for anyone who hasn't seen it, even if it is a film like Ice Age 4, a film that many people will just immediately dismiss as rubbish. So when I talk about my favorite bit of this family comedy, all I can really say is that it's, well, scary.
Yeah, scary. If you read the post I uploaded on Saturday about hand held horror films, then you know that I get scared very easily. Even so, to be scared ever so slightly by this film came as a complete surprise to me. But that's another thing I loved about this film, it took me off guard and by surprise. Who in their right minds expects the 4th film in a franchise to be any good? No one, that's who, but Ice Age 4 manages to rise above any expectations you may have about it and turns into an entertaining, funny and charming family comedy that I really find hard to hate.
Score: 8.5/10
Well thank you for reading this rather short and overly random review. There'll be two more this week, starting with THE DARKEST HOUR on Wednesday, and the next, as yet undecided film on Friday. If you have any films you'd like me to review then please leave a comment on here!
Until next time internet!
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