Ice Age: The Meltdown

Ice Age' was pleasant and funny without being particularly memorable; this second film is much the same. It follows a mammoth, a sabre-toothed tiger and an unusually energetic sloth on a journey to escape a flood, with the standard variety of character actors and comedians providing voices. The film has some particularly amusing moments, mainly in the physical comedy sequences with a squirrel trying to keep hold of his acorn. However, these are the only real set pieces in the movie; there are no musical numbers, except for one clever moment where vultures sing Food Glorious Food. As this may suggest, the humour can have a cheeky, dark tinge, also seen when the sloth chants "If your species isn't extinct, clap your hands", to the mammoth. The film contentedly passes time with this sort of joke, but in the end it lacks the kind of kick that would have made it special. [Keir Hind]