When I received the invite to see a preview screening of Ice Age: Continental Drift, I knew right away that only one of my children was going to see the movie with me.

That was going to be my seven-year-old boy.

I have an eleven-year-old and fifteen-year-old as well but they have become too old for this movie series. My daughter might have been interested because of the storyline involving Peaches who is now a young teenager. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Poster Image from IMDb.com

In this movie, we are dealing with a new problem for the herd consisting of Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid (John Leguizamo). The land mass is changing, greatly. Mountains and cliffs are rising or pushing forward.

The only hint that this might happen is when Sid’s family suddenly show up and leave Grandma (Wanda Sykes) behind without her teeth. A comment is made about the world changing but that is not their main concern.  Our herd does not worry until they start hearing some rumblings.

Manny still has time to tell his daughter, Peaches (Keke Palmer), that she is not hanging out with the cool mammoths. And she still has time to fight back. That is until another rumble begins to physically change their world and separates the three males from the herd. Manny vows to get back to his family while Ellie leads the rest of the herd to what appears to be a safe place.

Manny faces down a pirate crew in a life -or-death battle while Peaches takes on peer pressure during a march that could mean life or death.

Funny enough, it is Sid who says it best about these movies when trying to describe the dinosaur adventure when he says it doesn’t seem likely but it was great fun.

I could pick apart this movie, talk about the stories being tried and true, that a few characters need to examine their souls and where they stand in life. I could talked about the laughably bad musical number that introduces the pirates and the teen drama that plays like it always does.

But what an Ice Age movie is about is really the fun of it all. The fun of out-witting the bad guy, the action of the 3D as characters fly over ice or through the water, and cute cuddly creatures that are brave when it counts. That is what makes it fun for the kids.

What made it fun for me, the mom who is sitting there with the kid, were the silly little moments.  Such as the irrelevant question as the herd begins their journey to the land bridge. Or how Manny knows when he is being tricked by a group of monsters. Or when Peaches finally stands up for herself.

I enjoyed Wanda Sykes as Grandma and Jennifer Lopez was not too distracting as Shira. I loved the badger as a pirate flag and the whole nutty ‘Atlantis’ section.

While the 3D is OK and makes things pop out, it does not add to the movie going experience all that much for me. At least this time around the glasses were not too annoying.

Would I watch this movie again? Not really. It is OK for a fun night with the kids and I would not be overly bored with it. But Ice Age:Continental Drift does not have the underlying issues that makes me want to watch others movies such as Toy Story or Shrek over and over again.

It is a movie that is great for family time, just a little touchy-feeling at times, but with plenty of action to make you forget about that stuff.

(2 Stars)

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