Ice Age: Collision Course

This review may contain spoilers!

When will the Ice Age movies end already Hollywood? I would give Ice Age: Collision Course a 4/10.

This film's plot has one particularly interesting storyline which is essentially Peaches coming of age story (and yes, it is incredibly similar to Ice Age: Continental Drift in that regard). Throughout the film Manny and Ellie are constantly trying to persuade Peaches not to leave their herd with her fiance but as the film progresses they come to accept their daughter's maturity and accept the fiance, Julian, into the family. It's a touching element of the film and probably the only engaging element of the plot.

Simon Pegg, who voiced Buck, has one of the strongest presences in the film; Pegg presents a truly funny line who has a smattering of great lines over the course of the film. Jennifer Lopez, who voiced Shira, doesn't do as much in this film as she did in Continental Drift but she's still one of the better voice actresses; Lopez makes the very minor subplot of her role and Leary's role wanting children quite an enjoyable one. Keke Palmer, who voiced Peaches, has a really great chemistry with Romano and Latifah in this film; Palmer has a great voice for this strong role who finds her independence in this film. Denis Leary, who voiced Diego, has lost the more aggressive quality of his character by now and instead seems like more of a charming leader figure; Diego is a great role and Leary has really developed him well over the course of these films. Queen Latifah, who voiced Ellie, is one of the more insightful characters of the series; Latifah is really responsible for guiding the Peaches 'coming of age' story along. Wanda Sykes, who voiced Granny, is one of the most consistently funny characters; her line delivery is insanely great and Sykes has created one of my favourite role to come out of Ice Age.

However the best performance came from Ray Romano, who voiced Manny. Romano seems to have really thrown himself back into the role in this film, Manny has a strong presence again and feels like an interesting protagonist. His antics as an overprotective Dad are pretty funny and he also brings a strong emotional performance to that subplot. While this isn't the best Ice Age film by a long shit it's great how a lot of the original cast put their all in for this film.

The story about the impending meteor in this film just didn't feel as dangerous as it was supposed to, the characters never seemed afraid so you weren't afraid for them as an audience member. The film also started to drag out because more often than not the story would be paused completely to pay attention to unnecessary subplots like the youthful characters who lived in the asteroid or the dinosaur antagonists or worst of all, Scrat's continued adventures with his precious acorn. The animation for Ice Age really hasn't changed or improved much over the years so that was an issue for me, it's particularly bad timing that Finding Dory is out at the moment a film which has done so much to look better than it's predecessor. The score for this film was pretty generic and most scenes I didn't even have the impression music was playing, the soundtrack was garbage and filled with some pretty bad choices.

Adam Devine, who voiced Julian, clearly wasn't making much of an effort in this film; his character was boring and he had no chemistry at all with Palmer. Nick Offerman, Stephanie Beatriz and Max Greenfield, who voiced Gavin, Gertie and Roger respectively, were pretty forgettable antagonists to the film; they didn't really seem all that necessary and ultimately the asteroid was villain enough for the film. John Leguizamo, who voiced Sid, is the one original film character who hasn't progressed well with the franchise; Leguizamo's awkward moronic character was fun at first but five films down the line he's just become annoying. Seann William Scott and Josh Peck, who voiced Crash and Eddie respectively, weren't as original as Leguizamo's role but they've suffered the same fate; now that they're no longer crucial to the story Scott and Peck have become rather stale characters. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who voiced Shangri Llama, was such a boring character; his entire performance revolved around his yoga jokes which fell flat without fail. Michael Strahan, who voiced Teddy, fell into the background more often not; Strahan and Sykes' role having a flirtation was one of the more cringeworthy parts of the film. Jessie J, who voiced Brooke, came far too late into the film to have much of an impact; the subplot of her and Sid having a romance was an aspect of the film that no one really wanted nor asked for. Neil deGrasse Tyson, who voiced Neil deBuck Weasel, was a cameo that was neither funny nor necessary; his role would have gone over the heads of a lot of the audience. Chris Wedge, who voiced Scrat, is responsible for the Minions of Ice Age; Scrat is a character that has annoyed me more and more as these films have gone on and if this is the last film then I'll be all the happier for never having to watch Scrat again.