Also, he actually plays a key part in the finale of the climax where his usual comedic ice splitting gag actually relieved the main cast and the valley of the flood with the ice wall splitting open and allowing the water to drain out and Scrat actually drowning at the moment, culminating with him temporarily in Heaven but unfortunately for him, was revived by Sid at the end, who he proceeded to assault, which made for a funny note to leave off on! My final positive is the fact that Scrat's presence in this sequel is in my opinion much better than the first film (which I still liked) as his antics are more comedic and entertaining with his struggle to get his acorn from under some ice, fighting piranhas to get it, and trying to get it back from a vulture's nest. This movie also has a very good musical score, with the one big standout being the very triumphant and epic piece playing towards the end of the movie with the return of the mammoths, which made for one beautiful and captivating visual! In addition to the already scary flood, there are also these two monstrous sea reptiles, Cretaceous and Maelstrom, who serve as the movie's antagonists and are truly menacing in how predatory and ravenous they are, perfectly showcased in their introduction when they ate the old Glyptodon Stu, a pretty dark scene for a kid's movie, and helped add an extra layer of terror to the threat of the disaster during the main cast's journey.ĭiego also gets a nice character arc in this film in what seemed at first like a joke of him being scared of water (because cats hate water) that actually comes up later in the film during the third act where he has to face his fears and swim to save Sid, Crash and Eddie from drowning, by using advice Sid taught him earlier, and continues to show how much Diego has changed since the first film, which I appreciated the inclusion. I also really like the upgraded stakes in this movie with the looming threat of this flood and this boat at the end of the valley being the characters' one beacon of hope (ala Noah's Ark), as it made the journey more urgent, engaging and added a bit of suspense to the conflict as the main characters are on a deadline to safety and the threat of the melting ice and large flood is more disastrous and a danger to everyone alongside our main cast. In addition, this sequel also has a very emotional moment regarding Ellie's flashback as a young orphaned mammoth lost and taken in by the possums which leads to her figuring out her true self, which while not as emotionally powerful as the cave painting flashback from the first film, was still a very emotional stand out moment. I also really love the expansion of Manny's character arc from the first film and his existential dilemma of being the last mammoth of his kind, paired with the new addition of Ellie, voiced perfectly by Queen Latifah, who nicely counteracts Manny and the two share some very good chemistry in how they start off very different in personality and her delusion of being a possum make for some cute interactions up to the final moments of the movie where they grow closer (despite some hurdles, miscommunication and disagreements) and become a family by the end, which I felt was a wholesome and natural direction to take Manny's arc from the first film regarding the loss of his former family and Ellie filling that void in his soul, which I greatly appreciate most about this sequel. The one big positive I can certainly give this sequel is how much better it looks compared to the first film, which was still good animation for the time but is very much dated and hasn't aged the best nowadays, but this sequel pretty much had a much bigger budget and as such, there was a huge upgrade in the visuals and the characters and animation improved greatly with the textures and lighting, which certainly gives the visuals a leg up over the first film and still holds up pretty well in my opinion. And here we are to be reviewing the first of the sequels and the second film overall, so does Ice Age: The Meltdown still hold up as a worthy successor to the original or is it just a basic mediocre cash grab sequel and its just the nostalgia clouding my view of it? Now Ice Age has always been one of those franchises that I have a soft spot for and is one of those animated film franchises that doesn't get enough credit and is kind of one that half the majority tends to shit on due to the negative clout regarding the sequels, some of which are understandable but I have always liked a few of them and think that not all of them are bad and there actually do exist some good sequels in this franchise, namely the first two. Here we are once again with the second entry of my Ice Age review series with the first sequel, Ice Age: The Meltdown. Studio: 20th Century Fox, Blue Sky Studios
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