Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

[Chris D]

Got this one for Christmas today, and it was given to me in Blu-Ray format. This is currently ranked as one of the top three Blu-Ray movies for picture quality with Blackhawk Down and Corpse Bride.

Fairly straightforward here, to summarize, the picture quality really is the BEST I have ever seen in a movie. The movie itself is mediocre, with a plot that is... well... mediocre. If you remember the Scrat from the original Ice Age, the little chipmunk character, he returns in this sequel with more scenes, which are a true delight and the best part of the film.

It is truly disappointing that such a fantastic movie for picture quality is a letdown as an actual film. The plot is thin, basically "run away from the melting glacier." Along the way, there are few compelling events and sub-plots other than the theme that Manny the Mastadon thinks he is the last one on Earth until he finds another. It is like the writers needed to fill up 100 minutes of time to make a movie, so they just thought desperately of scenes they could stick in, whether they made a comprehensive movie or not.

Like I said, the Scrat scenes are truly wonderful. A few of them get trite, but in general they are a lot of fun, what animation SHOULD be--larger than life and delightfully silly.

I've said it before in another thread--Disney truly, truly missed a golden opportunity by not releasing "Cars" in high-def at the same time as the PS3 release. Disney/Pixar could be the reigning king of animation films right now, exploding the BD format in the HD format wars and giving us a reference quality demo film for quite some time. Unfortunately, that did not happen, so Fox gets the title of reigning animated movie for picture quality with Ice Age 2. Not the king for the actual movie, but king for PQ.

:25: out of :5: for Ice Age 2.

[dyazdani]

I watched it tonight as well. The plot was a little weak, but it was still a "fun" movie. Sid is always funny and you already mentioned the Scrat scenes.

I won't buy it unless it ends up as a cheap bundle with the first movie.

[Nick M]

I bought it, and loved it. :T

[David Meek]

The Scrat scenes are enough by themselves for me to own it. :T

[Chris D]

Yes... on another forum, there's a lot of complaining about "banding" of the sky, particularly during the Scrat scenes, saying that the variation of the sky blue doesn't blend well and becomes blotchy. I didn't see this on my particular setup.

Scrat scenes on BD may be demo/reference quality worthy.

[Chris D]

I was finishing up the extras of "Ice Age 2" to get my money's worth out of the disc and came across an animated short on it called "No Time for Nuts". It's just a short film based on the Scrat character. I laughed my A$@ off! This was so well done. So if you rent/own/whatever this movie, make sure you check out the short under the extras.

Maybe they should just forget the Ice Age stuff and make a movie just based on Scrat.

[Kal Rubinson]

Technically, it was fine but story/characters were disappointing. Got it free at CES and glad I didn't pay for it.

Kal