Movie Review: Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)

The animated movie stars Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo.

I decided to pick up a couple pizzas from one of our local restaurants yesterday evening. And, since my order came with a free movie rental, I picked up this film so we could have a family movie night. 

I've seen the other Ice Age movies and, while I enjoyed them, I was a little concerned the franchise was reaching a point where the sequels wouldn't be nearly as entertaining. As it turns out, while the first movie is definitely still the best, this installment was much better than I thought it would be.

I think the thing I really liked about this film was the seemingly impossible situation. After all, Manny (Romano) and his friends were trying to stop a comet, something that seemed very improbable given the fact they had nothing but primitive weapons and, of course, the fact they were animals.

The film also manages to add quite a bit more adventure by having the heroes face a variety of other obstacles, including flying dinosaurs, fireballs falling from the sky and a (surprisingly funny) electrical storm.

As is usually the case with these movies, the various newly-introduced characters, including a guru-like llama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) added some fresh faces and new material to the movie, something I think helped keep it funnier than it would have been if it just kept the same characters.

Of course, some of them, such as the carryover from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs hold over, Buck (Simon Pegg) were more annoying than actually funny. But, there were enough funny characters to make up for that.

As is usually the case, the first movie was definitely the best. However, this film was much funnier than I expected it to be. And, while I'm glad I didn't spend my money on it at the theater, it is a film that is worth taking the time to watch at home.

My Grade: B