IMDb listing -
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1667889/
CNS/USCCB review -
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/movies/12mv080.htm
Roger Ebert's review -
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120711/REVIEWS/120719995
Ice Age: Continental Drift (directed by Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier, written by Michael Berg and Jason Fuchs) continues the highly successful Ice Age animated film franchise, and the film provides exactly what one would expect from this new installment in the series.
Most of the actors who've voiced characters in the past are back again. So Manny the Mammoth continues to be voiced by Ray Romano; Ellie, his Mammoth wife, continues to be voiced by Queen Latifah, Diego the Saber Toothed Tiger continues to be voiced by Denis Leary, and John Leguizamo continues to voice Sid, the loveable if somewhat out of it Giant Sloth. Peaches (voiced by Keke Palmer), Manny and Ellie's daughter Mammoth returns as well. Finally Scrat, the acorn-obsessed saber-toothed squirrel, voiced (in as much as it is voiced) by Chris Wedge, continues to have an always funny and surprisingly important role in the story.
Additionally, a fair number of new characters are introduced. These include:
Ethan (voiced by Aubrey Graham) a "cool" teenage Mammoth who Peaches finds adorable, along with Ethan's often "attitude driven" posse composed of Steffie (voiced by Nicki Minaj) and Katie (voiced by Heather Morris) both also teenage Mammoths. and Louis (voiced by Josh Gad) a soft-spoken and (needless to say, diminutive) Hedgehog who had been Peaches' best childhood friend and has a deep crush on her.
Then, after the _sudden appearance_ of a fault-line (normally these things take place in glacial geologic time, but appear in this movie very, very _rapidly_) and Manny, Diego and Sid and Sid's seemingly crazy Granny (voiced by Wanda Sikes) find themselves separated from the rest of the group floating on an iceberg, they come to encounter a "rag tag band" of "pirate" mammals, led by Captian Gutt (voiced by Peter Dinklage) a gigantopithacus (a now extinct ape) and including Shira (voiced by Jennifer Lopez) a saber toothed snow cat who serves as his first mate; Flynn (voiced by Nick Frost) a not all-to-bright elephant seal, and Gupta (voiced by Kunnal Nayar) a bengali badger who because of the black and white markings on his pelt often ends up (after scampering up a pole and biting into it when he reaches the top) serving as the pirate band's flag; among others.
Finally, during their the course of their adventures, the four -- Manny, Diego, Sid and Granny -- come across an island of adorable, not-particularly-bright-looking, but then (as a group) surprisingly clever Hyraxes [IMDb] (voiced in as much as they are voiced by Alexa Kahn).
With a cast of characters like this, needless to say ... "much ensues."
I found the movie to be certainly entertaining. As with just about all the children's movies these days, the film is available in 3D. This time because of scheduling reasons, I found myself forced to see the film in 3D and have to say that it was quite good. As always, however, I would tell parents there's _no absolute need_ to see it in such a way, and that I certainly do appreciate that the $4 extra per ticket to see the film in 3D could be a deal breaker for a family. So if you can, catch the film in 2D, you won't miss all that much. But I would say that if you find yourselves forced to see the film in 3D as I did, you could do worse than seeing this one in such a way. Again, the 3D in this film is quite good.
So all in all, while this is certainly not a particularly profound movie, it does work. And the film, which is after all, about the earth's land-masses splitting-up into continents (the reason given in the film for this happening is, as always, hilarious ... ;-), does have something to offer to viewers of all ages (kids, teens, parents). So all in all, I do believe that it makes for a nice "family film."
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