Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

Manny, Sid, and Diego discover that the Ice Age is coming to an end, and join everybody for a journey to higher ground. On the trip, they discover that Manny, in fact, is not the last of the wooly mammoths.

Director:

Carlos Saldanha

Writers:

Gerry Swallow, Peter Gaulke (screenplay),

Stars:

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary

6 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ray Romano	...	Manny (voice)
John Leguizamo	...	Sid (voice)
Denis Leary	...	Diego (voice)
Seann William Scott	...	Crash (voice)
Josh Peck	...	Eddie (voice)
Queen Latifah	...	Ellie (voice)
Will Arnett	...	Lone Gunslinger Vulture (voice)
Jay Leno	...	Fast Tony (voice)
Chris Wedge	...	Scrat (voice)
Peter Ackerman	...	Dung Beetle Dad (voice)
Caitlin Rose Anderson	...	Glypto Boy Billy / Beaver Girl (voice)
Connor Anderson	...	Rhino Boy / Beaver Boy (voice)
Joseph Bologna	...	Mr. Start (voice)
Jack Crocicchia	...	Elk Boy (voice)
Peter DeSève	...	Condor Chick (voice)

Storyline

Manny the woolly mammoth, Sid the sloth, Diego the saber-toothed tiger, and the hapless prehistoric squirrel/rat known as Scrat are still together and enjoying the perks of their now melting world. Manny may be ready to start a family, but nobody has seen another mammoth for a long time; Manny thinks he may be the last one. That is, until he miraculously finds Ellie, the only female mammoth left in the world. Their only problems: They can't stand each other--and Ellie somehow thinks she's a possum! Ellie comes with some excess baggage in the form of her two possum "brothers"-- Crash and Eddie, a couple of daredevil pranksters and cocky, loud-mouthed troublemakers. Manny, Sid and Diego quickly learn that the warming climate has one major drawback: A huge glacial dam holding off oceans of water is about to break, threatening the entire valley. The only chance of survival lies at the other end of the valley. So our three heroes, along with Ellie, Crash and Eddie, form the most unlikely ...

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Plot Keywords:

mammoth | valley | flood | squirrel | sloth | 

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Taglines:

He Never Thaw It Coming (UK)

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild language and innuendo

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [fr] Bontonfilm [cz]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 March 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ice Age 2

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$831,667 (Hong Kong) (14 April 2006)

Gross:

$195,329,763 (USA) (1 September 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blue Sky Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Animation, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 90 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Improvements in fur simulation made since the first film required subtle changes in the original character models. Sid, in particular, look fatter with the more natural fur.

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Goofs

The two sea reptiles (Cretaceous and Maelstrom) were frozen in the ice, but in the era that they lived in, there was no place on Earth cold enough to generate ice.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mr. Start: Oy, this global warming is "killing" me!
Mrs. Start: This is too "hot", the Ice Age was too "cold", what will it take to make you happy? Aahhh!
[the ice that she is sitting on cracks and she falls into the water]
Mr. Start: "This" I like!

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits.

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Connections

Spoofed in Doogal (2006)

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Soundtracks

"The Way You Look Tonight"
Written by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern

User Reviews

Still cool but less solid the second time around

Manny the woolly mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and Diego (Dennis Leary) the saber-toothed tiger embark on yet another journey in "Ice Age: Meltdown, "the sequel from the 2002 blockbuster by Blue Sky Studios and released by 20th Century Fox. This time, ice is melting and a great flood is threatening to drown all animals in the valley in three days, much to the delight of vultures who are keen on having a buffet with the bodies of those who will be unfortunate enough not to outlive it. The only way to survive is to get to an "ark" at the other end of the valley. Along the way, they meet Ellie (Queen Latifah), perhaps the only other mammoth left aside from Manny, but unfortunately, thinks of herself as a possum, with her "brothers" Crash and Eddie (Sean William Scott and Josh Peck... who's who, I don't know because I never got to track their names).

"Ice Age: Meltdown" is, first and foremost, the inevitable sequel. And while it is still an enjoyable movie, it's very clearly more, or less (depending on how you would look at it), of the same. It still follows up from the first one, but all in all it feels that there wasn't enough material to hold a full-length movie that the character of Scrat has been given more screen time even if what he does trying to get his acorn doesn't advance the plot at all, albeit helping the film reach barely an hour and a half. While this movie still does manage to amuse from time to time, on the whole the plot feels more obligatory and jokes seem to be a little bit more blunt.

That's not to say "Ice Age: Meltdown" is a total waste because it does still have a few aces up its sleeve. Latifah brings a brilliant performance on her character Ellie, as are Scott and Peck on Ellie's two "brothers." And while much of the first two parts of the film lags, it builds up during the climax and from there never lets go. The animation looks quite excellent as well.

It still has enough wit and laughs to support it most of the time but it's really much more of a standard film than the first one, and the animation genre in general doesn't reach new levels with this. Still, it's one of the better sequels there is, and it's a cool way to start the summer (in this side of the world, that is).