Manny, Diego, and Sid embark upon another adventure after their continent is set adrift. Using an iceberg as a ship, they encounter sea creatures and battle pirates as they explore a new world.
Fine if you’re young and undemanding, but even the most Neanderthal adult must be praying for an end to the prehistoric gags.
Weighed down with daft new characters and an overstretched story, the prehistoric saga is looking a bit old. On the other hand, it still has Scrat –which is all any movie really needs…
Still gorgeously drawn, still relying on the same story of a family in peril, and still loveable.
The Ice Age franchise trundles on with this dreary fourth instalment, serving up more banal adventures for its makeshift band of moribund mammals to pound us with easy-to-grasp family values messages.
The story and character development are rather perfunctory but there are some good lines and there’s no faulting the animation, showcased in some spectacular action sequences. The result is jolly, well-meaning and does the job.
Old friends and new voice talent will delight kids with a never-ending love for the most undemanding animation out there. A megabucks franchise drifts on.
Would 90 minutes of Scrat centre stage be too much in the inevitable Ice Age 5? Perhaps, but better that than more of this.
It really does feel exhausted.
The cracks are really beginning to show in this animated franchise.
Another big hit.
Pleasantly surprised. But maybe stop there?
Much like the earlier efforts, the kids will enjoy it a lot more than their parents.
As always in the Ice Age animated franchise the best sequences centre on Scrat, the Sisyphean half-squirrel, half-rat, determinedly chasing an acorn around the prehistoric world to disastrous effect.
General release. Check local listings for show times.