Introduction
Welcome to my corner! This week, I'm sharing my thoughts on the film Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The Emil M. Larson Library will be showing Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs as part of their Summer Reading Program Movie Lineup on June 19 at 3:00 p.m. Go and enjoy!
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a 2009 American animated adventure comedy film and the third installment in the Ice Age film series following Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006). Produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios, it was directed by Carlos Saldanha, and written by Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman, Mike Reiss, and Yoni Brenner. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Queen Latifah reprise their roles from the previous two films.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was released on July 1, 2009 by 20th Century Fox, and initially received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its animation but criticism for the story. Despite this, retrospective reviews have no seen Dawn of the Dinosaurs as the best sequel in the franchise, and the film grossed $886.7 million worldwide, becoming the third-highest-grossing film and the highest-grossing animated film of 2009. It was followed by two further sequels, Ice Age: Continental Drift in July 13, 2012 and Ice Age: Collision Course in July 22, 2016.
Plot: After Sid (John Leguizamo) pilfers some dinosaur eggs, Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary) and the rest of their prehistoric pals enter a mysterious, underground world to rescue the hapless sloth. During the course of their mission, the gang encounters many creatures great and small, including hungry carnivores and a relentless, dinosaur-hunting weasel named Buck.
(Voice) Acting: My favorite title is the Ice Age franchise for the following actors, if not stateed otherwise.
Ray Romano played Manny, a woolly mammoth and the leader of The Herd. He is also Ellie's husband, Sid and Diego's best friend and Peaches' father. Ray has a very distinctive voice. His four most notable titles currently are The Irishman, Ice Age, The Big Sick and Everybody Loves Raymond television series.
John Leguizamo played Sid, a ground sloth and the founder of The Herd. He is also Manny and Diego's best friend and the adoptive father of the three baby dinos. His four most notable titles currently include Moulin Rouge!, Spawn, Summer of Sam, and Romeo + Juliet. Moulin Rouge! is my favorite.
Denis Leary played Diego, a smilodon and a member of The Herd and Manny and Sid's best friend. His four most notable titles currently are The Thomas Crown Affair, Ice Age, The Ref, and the Rescue Me television series.
Queen Latifah played Ellie, a female woolly mammoth, Manny's wife, Peaches' mother and Crash and Eddie's adoptive sister. Her four most notable titles currently are Bringing Down the House, Hairspray, Chicago and Taxi. My favorite is Hairspray.
Simon Pegg played Buck, a dinosaur-hunting weasel who joins The Herd. Buck is my favorite character in this movie. His four most notable titles currently include The World's End, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Star Trek (2009).
Seann William Scott played Crash, an opossum, Eddie's biological brother and Ellie's adoptive brother. His four most notable titles currently include the American Pie franchise and The Dukes of Hazzard (2005).
Josh Peck played Eddie, an opossum, Crash's biological brother and Ellie's adoptive brother. His four most notable titles currently are The Wackness, Red Dawn, Mean Creek, and the Drake & Josh television series.
Minor roles were played by Tara Strong as Peaches, a baby woolly mammoth, Ellie and Manny's daughter; Chris Wedge as Scrat, a saber-toothed squirrel; Karen Disher as Scratte, a female saber-toothed flying squirrel, and Scrat's love interest and rival; Frank Welker as Momma, Rudy and Additional Dinosaurs; Bill Hader as Gazelle; Jane Lynch as Diatryma Mom; Kristen Wiig as Pudgy Beaver Mom; Carlos Saldanha as Eggbert/Shelly/Yoko/Flightless Bird; Eunice Cho as Madison (Diatryna Girl); Maile Flanagan as Aardvark Mom; Christian Pikes as Little Johnny, an aardvark; Clea Lewis as Start Mom; Randy Thom as Additional Dinosaurs and Dvika Parikh (additional voices).
Background information: Blue Sky decied to do "more of a what-if adventure" in the third Ice Age installment, "like finding the giant ape in King Kong or a Shangri-La in the middle of snow," and added the dinosaurs to the story. Character designer Peter de Sève welcomed the new plot addition, since he could not think of any other giant mammal to put into the story. The "lost world" approach led to colorful dinosaurs, because "the dinosaurs didn't have to be just brown, and you can take liberties because no one knows what color they were", according to de Sève. Rudy's design was inspired by the Baryonyx because of his crocodile-like look, which de Sève considered even more menacing than the T. Rex.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs held special screenings on Father's Day, June 21, 2009, in 330 theaters across the United States, exclusively in 3-D. That day was chosen due to the film featuring a theme of fatherhood. Widely, it was released on July 1, 2009.
The film was released in RealD 3D where available. This sparked some controversy when Fox announced that it would no longer pay to supply 3-D glasses to theaters, leading to a number of exhibitors threatening to show the film in only standard 2-D projection.
Final Thoughts: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is probably one of the best sequels in a franchise that I've ever seen. That's really saying something, as this movie is the third in the franchise. It probably works so well because it kind of works as a standalone. You don't really need to have seen the first and second movies to enjoy Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It certainly helps if you have seen the first two, but you don't need to.
I love that they introduced a female squirrel for Scrat. I also appreciate the new character of Buck. And Peaches? Well, she's just darn cute.
My favorite scene was the one where Buck explains theories on what may have happened to Sid and the dinosaurs, right before they enter the Plates of Woe territory.
My favorite quote is "All right preggers, don't get your trunk in a knot." —Buck.
Rated: PG
Where to watch it: According to Google, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is currently available for free on Tubi, or Disney+ with a subscription. You can also purchase or rent a digital copy for a few dollars.
The Emil M. Larson Public Library will be showing Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs as part of their Summer Reading Program Movie Lineup on June 19 at 3:00 p.m. Go and enjoy!
