Dino tale not exactly dy-no-mite for 'Ice Age 3'
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Running time: 94 minutes
MPAA rating: PG (mild rude humor and peril)
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I'm not totally giving the "Ice Age" franchise the cold shoulder. On the other hoof, I no longer get the warm and fuzzies from it either.
It's a pretty good sign that the computer-animated prehistoric-adventure franchise is running out of steam when the third installment abandons the Ice Age of its title to drop into sort of subterranean lush "Land That Time Forgot" for a creative energy boost.
"Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" finds that to some extent down under with the addition of a one-eyed weasel named Buck that's voiced by gifted British comedian/actor Simon Pegg.
I suppose when you're trying to come up with a third story line centered around a couple of lumbering woolly mammoths, an aging saber toothed tiger and a sloth named Sid, a change of scenery can only help.
The "Ice Age" computer animation doesn't exactly leap from the screen on par with the state-of-the-art Pixar/Disney entries ("WALL-E" and "Up").
Still, if you're looking for relatively harmless animated entertainment for the kids and/or the entire family, "Ice Age 3" is not an unpleasant way to spend an hour and a half out of the summer heat.
Manny (Ray Romano) and Ellie (Queen Latifah) are preparing to welcome a little mammoth into the family as the third installment begins.
Going more than a little nuts over being a papa for the first time, Manny gets busy building a kiddie playground and child-proofing nature around him (sticking snowballs on sharp limbs, for instance).
Sid (John Leguizamo), feeling left out, adopts three giant eggs he finds in a cavern. When they hatch as baby dinosaurs (and think of Sid as mama), the action soon shifts underground to a tropical jungle where dinosaurs roam and danger lurks.
I stopped counting when I got to three writers involved in this second sequel to the original "Ice Age" of 2002.
There's more, though. And in a slow-moving tale desperately in need of some life, I'd like to thank whichever writer came up with this line for Manny to yell at a carnivorous beast hanging around way past his prime time:
"I liked you better when you were extinct, buddy."
Co-directors Carlos Saldanha and Michael Thurmeier go 1-for-2 when it comes to making "Ice Age 3" vibrantly alive. They go to the well way too often with Scrat, the "nuts for nuts" acorn-chasing prehistoric squirrel-rat.
No longer just used to cleverly open the "Ice Age" flicks, Scrat appears throughout in this one. In fact, he hooks up with a significant other, the equally acorn-driven Scratte (rhymes with sauté).
On the plus side, Pegg pegs Buck, the swashbuckling weasel that chases a fearsome white dino around with the same maddening devotion Capt. Ahab pursued Moby Dick.
There's nothing original about all this, of course. That's added proof that this is yet another movie franchise that should pull the plug on its cash cow, but probably won't.
Oh, and there's something else new about "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs." The third episode is available in digital 3-D as well as the usual 2-D.
If you're going the 3-D route, however, be prepared to pay a premium (in the $2.50 to $3 range) for the use of the 3-D glasses. Is it worth the extra bucks?
Not from this aisle seat.
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