Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Laid-back family fun, this time with dinosaurs, that retains its quality. And yet again, thanks to Powell, we get quality background music. The third dimension is fine, but as a person who already has one layer of glass over his eyes, having to combine them with 3D glasses wasn’t all that welcome. My nose suffered considerably (two pairs of glasses are just overload), but at least it was experience for me and now my preparations for going to see Avatar are going ahead according to plan. Point no. 1: put in contact lenses, leave glasses at home. (11/08/2009)

Kids must be jumping for joy; I’m happy for them. The creators have carried on with never-ending falling and chase scenes. But I didn’t expect anything different. They’ve earned a fortune on it, I’m happy for them. But it’s over the line if you leave the humor out of Scratch’s escapades; you’d better not ask me what I would do to the authors for it. The only positive side of the third Ice Age is Pegg’s Buck who seems like he came out of a completely different animated movie. An animated with a slightly more mature character which I would enjoy maybe more than first-graders. Can’t have those little beggars hogging every single animated movie for themselves, now, can we? (28/09/2009)

It has its own appeal, that’s for sure. The creation of a family and how it all goes wrong, friendships that will probably end. Some moments will impact you if you love the series, but in neither case is it particularly well-executed. The environment with the dinosaurs is awesome and visually very beautiful. Also, some of the jokes will make you laugh out loud. (25/03/2015)

Ice Age 3 retains the same target audience as its predecessors: children up to 12 years old, who will most appreciate the old-fashioned wacky characters, episodic humour based on funny voice acting and dynamic action, and the depiction of basic family and moral values. What is new, however, is the creative dinosaur setting, which brings a welcome visual boost to the series, and the storyline is fantastic compared to the more verbose previous installments. We witness a totally unsurprising development, but that was never the point in the first place, and secondly we have a damn cool character in the form of the guide Buck, who just steals the film for himself and throws much of the responsibility off the shoulders of the traditionally great Scrat. Given the ambition and the premise, it really couldn't have turned out better, my child self is screaming with pleasure. (18/04/2011)

After the weaker second part of the "ice saga", I found Dawn of the Dinosaurs a refreshing experience that really entertained and visually pleased me. Skrat has stiff competition in the hunt for the nut this time around, with "extinct" creatures scurrying beneath the icy plains of the Tertiary period, that’s the premise, and it worked for me. Once again, there's a volley of funny lines and situations that lifted my spirits and even a certain amount of fear in the form of one unnamed dinosaur. In short, I think Ice Age 3 was good, but I don't think another sequel would be the best move. (25/11/2010)