Despite the events of 2006’s “The Meltdown” and 2009’s “Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” Manny is still trying to be the responsible one, Sid just wants to be part of the gang, Diego is the comic relief, and Scrat—well, all Scrat has ever wanted is that acorn. And those plot points are exactly what you’ll find again in “Continental Drift,” the latest 3-D installment in the “Ice Age” series from Blue Sky Studios. As much as the film is bursting with bright colors and fast-paced action sequences—which slide, ricochet, and slam all over the screen, taking full advantage of the 3-D medium—it’s also weighed down with unnecessary characters and somewhat sedentary plot movement.
Also strange: a subplot involving Manny and Ellie’s now-13-year-old daughter, and the perils involved with her beginning to develop romantic feelings and trying to be part of the peer pressure-heavy group of cool kids. Those themes skew a little older than the “Ice Age” demographic, no? It’s a strange inclusion that will seem disconnected for younger viewers, and isn’t particularly funny or enjoyable for parents, either.
“Continental Drift” picks up some years after “Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” which ended with Manny (voiced by Ray Romano) and wife Ellie (voiced by Queen Latifah, of “Joyful Noise”) welcoming daughter Peaches into the world; she’s now a teenager (voiced by Keke Palmer), and best friends with molehog Louis (voiced by Josh Gad), who has an unrequited crush on her. Peaches, however, has unanswered feelings of her own for woolly mammoth Ethan (voiced by rapper Drake), who is constantly with a crew of friends including prehistoric rabbit Squint (voiced by Aziz Ansari, of “What’s Your Number?”, “30 Minutes or Less,” and “Get Him to the Greek”) and woolly mammoth Steffie (voiced by rapper Nicki Minaj).
As they nudge her into various unsavory activities, Peaches bumps up against overprotective Manny—until an earthquake breaks Pangea apart and separates Manny from his family. And he’s not the only one set adrift, stuck on an iceberg in a newly formed body of water; along for the ride are his trusty sidekicks Sid (voiced by John Leguizamo, of “The Lincoln Lawyer”) and Diego (voiced by Denis Leary, of “The Amazing Spider-Man”). Separated, as always, is Scrat (voiced by Chris Wedge, who also executive produced “Rio”), who is off on his own hunting for acorns. You know, as he does.
But Manny, Sid, and Diego aren’t getting into shenanigans as lighthearted as Scrat’s—instead, when they run into a crew of sea-roaming pirates led by prehistoric ape Captain Gutt (voiced by Peter Dinklage), things get a little bit dangerous. Gutt, with his very grossly dirty and decaying teeth, is a proper villain, refusing to help Manny and Co. get home in one piece—but that doesn’t keep Diego from falling hard for fellow saber-toothed cat Shira (voiced by Jennifer Lopez, of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”), a member of Gutt’s crew.
So as Manny, Sid, and Diego struggle to get home, Scrat—in his own separate storyline, per usual—is chasing after those elusive nuts. He caused the dissolution of Pangea, but what does he care? That squirrel is seriously hungry.
That good-natured superficiality is par for the course with the “Ice Age” films, but something about “Continental Drift” feels particularly listless. Perhaps it’s because the “we have to get home!” storyline has been used a little too often in the “Ice Age” series, and in most children’s films in general (such as the similarly environmentally inclined “Happy Feet Two”). Screenwriters Michael Berg and Jason Fuchs don’t bring too many things to the story here, and the plot with Peaches falls especially flat. Isn’t a petulant teenager a little too old to show up in an “Ice Age” film? Will youngsters drawn in by Scrat really react well to that kind of storyline?
What Berg and Fuchs do right, though, is dream up Granny, Sid’s wisecracking grandmother as voiced by Wanda Sykes. Popping up and latching onto the friendship between Manny, Sid, and Diego, Granny is sassy and spunky, a nice new addition. Similarly well-conceived are Gutt and his fellow pirates, especially right-hand elephant seal Flynn (voiced by Nick Frost, of “Snow White and the Huntsman,” “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Attack the Block,” and “Paul”). Although pirates are a somewhat expected bad-guy choice, the motley crew of elephant seals, kangaroos, and other animals are pretty good at pillaging and plundering. In contrast with Manny’s super-straight conservatism, for example, Gutt is a nice foil. And actually scary is the land of the Sirens, which the pirates and our good guys must pass through; things get eerie and dark as the writers probe at the characters’ inner motivations, but the film’s happier tone returns soon enough.
Ultimately, however, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Manny and his friends, even though they don’t always get along, are loyal to the end. Silent protagonist Scrat can always be counted on to screw things up in his light-hearted (but kind of gluttonous, no?) need for those acorns. When directors Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier stick to the “Ice Age” formula, “Continental Drift” is acceptable enough—but its refusal to take any risks makes it a far-less-than-perfect sequel.
Also included is “The Longest Daycare,” a four-and-a-half-minute short, before the film, starring Maggie from the TV show “The Simpsons” and focusing on her adventures in daycare. Children may not get the humor of Maggie being stuck in the Ayn Rand School for Tots, but parents will.
