Ice Age : Dawn of The Dinosaurs

Can’t help but compare the two – actually three - sequels running at your nearest multiplex. While both Terminator : Salvation and Transformers : Revenge of The Fallen have completely lost their bearings, Ice Age : Dawn of The Dinosaurs remains firmly grounded in its origins and delivers yet another really enjoyable experience at the theatre.

The plot is like this – Manny & Ellie have settled down and are expecting a baby mammoth. Diego is feeling out of shape as he can no longer chase down gazelles – he is considering quitting the herd. Sid is feeling left out with all this and he wants a family of his own too. Since he is hardly the perfect mating material, he does the next best thing - he finds three largish eggs in a cave and adopts them as his own.

Only, they hatch into baby dinosaurs !! And very soon an angry momma dinosaur emerges from a hole in the ground to take her three kids back into their world below. And she takes the hapless Sid with her as well. (The existence of the dinosaurs is explained by a Jurassic Park under the ice sheet - somewhat like Journey to The Center of The Earth).

Filled with uncharitable thoughts about Sid, the rest of the team – Manny, Ellie, Diego and the possums follow Sid’s trail to the dinosaur world to try and rescue him …
There are two new characters introduced in the movie – Scratte, a female flying squirrel who more than flutters her eyelashes at Scrat. The other is Buck, a one eyed swashbuckler of a weasel, who navigates the subterranean with aplomb while sounding like Captain Jack Sparrow. And it’s Buck that is the difference between a middling Ice Age 2 and a terrific Ice Age 3.

The movie is a delightful storehouse of gags and laugh-out-loud moments. They even manage to spoof one of the most cliché Hollywood sequences !! Animation quality is amazing and one has to wonder at these wizards of animation – they manage to make T-rex babies look cute and cuddly !!! I didn’t manage to watch the 3D version but I am sure it would enhance the viewing experience even more.

There are a few tacky sequences like Ellie going into labor in the middle of a fight etc, but even those are handled well enough not to distract you from the fun. The verdict is a definite thumbs up for Ice Age 3. Now bring on Ice Age 4 !!