In the last decade or so there has been something of a tectonic shift in the world of cinematic animation. For an industry that is as laborious and time consuming as it is creative, more and more companies have moved into the genre, some tentatively, others (such as Pixar) with both feet. It's not hard to tell why. The genre can reap enormous rewards and send share prices as well as customers quite giddy indeed. With the advent of intense computer-generated imagery an industry dominated almost entirely by Disney and a few plucky Japanese companies has now spilled out into almost all large distribution houses. Pixar are so important to Disney that in renegotiating their contract they were able to set the terms, which Disney caved in on. Dreamworks and Fox also have their own in-house CGI teams now, and the Japanese have seen a huge upsurge in demand for their products with the success of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, among others.
However, as with any highly specialised film industry, when more people move into it a notable decline in overall quality can become apparent. Pixar have yet to put a foot wrong (though the upcoming Cars might change that), but both Dreamworks and Fox have had issues of quality over their products. Shark Tale was very poor and Disney's own recent Chicken Little indeed delivered very little. Fox, the producers of the Ice Age series, received only mild critical success for the original but the gate receipts were more than sufficient to green light a sequel. As such, all eyes were on the writers and animators to produce a superior sequel and challenge Pixar for the crown of top dog.
Unfortunately they fall rather short. It's not bad, not bad at all, but the screen quality is nowhere near as vibrant as, say, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles or Shrek 2. Whenever your eye wanders from one of the main characters it all seems a little lifeless and uninspiring, and a shortage of interesting or funny supporting characters adds to this feeling. The plot is all rather straightforward, little more than a road movie in one direction, and doesn't have much in the way of amusing diversions. Romano, a man little known outside of America but enormous within it, is quite well cast as the dour, cynical Manny, and Leguizamo, a man I can hardly stand at the best of times, is actually excellent as the docile butt-of-the-joke Sid, but Leary is almost invisible as the sabre-tooth tiger Diego. While he had an interesting role in the first movie he's little more than a dose of realism and a conscience for Manny in this one. Beyond that newbie Queen Latifah brings little to her role (shock) and her "I'm not a mammoth I'm a possum" routine wears thin well before it should.
While the kids we saw it alongside seemed to find it vaguely amusing there wasn't much for anyone over the age of 12 to particularly enjoy. Like all recent animated flicks it meant well, and you couldn't help but smile throughout it, but when you leave the cinema and find it hard to remember more than a couple of scenes you know it failed to leave the requisite good impression. |
