Animated movie fans, rejoice! This latest instalment in the multi-award-winning Ice Age treads frosty new ground, as Manny the mammoth and his wacky herd have to navigate through a treacherous tar pit to reach the Fertile Plains in time to celebrate Thanksgiving!
After Steve Martino stepped away from directors chair after a horrific chalk incident, cinema industry up-and-comer Alejandro Jodorowsky swept in to take the reins from the struggling Blue Sky Studios, and he’s made a Jurassic impact!
The original film script, reported to have been a “more traditional” story, focused on sabretooth tiger Diego failing to handle the stress of his approaching Bar exam, while still trying to be supportive of his friend Sid the sloth’s new keto diet, which had been recommended by his GP in an attempt to force his type-2 diabetes into remission.
Friction between this established plot and Jodorowsky’s self-professed desire to “bring the series back to its roots” pushed back the release date by another two years, as consultant script writer Dick Thornburgh was brought in to see the new director’s vision through to the silver screen – and luckily, before the next Ice Age [not the film]!
Grown-ups in the audience might notice a small shift in the colour grading by the second half of the movie, but other than that the reshoots are barely any different from the content shown in the press-release long edit shown to The Files last July.
The plot is a fairly basic affair compared to earlier instalments, but warm with sincerity, like a nice pie on a cold winter evening. Gruff, no-nonsense mammoth Manny shocks the rest of the gang when he announces that he never has anything to be thankful for, and that everyone should be thankful for him. An outraged Sid believes that Manny has no idea how lucky he is, and during their migration to the opulent “fertile plains” to escape the thawing ice, he plans an event as big as an asteroid – a celebration of giving thanks!
We see different sides to all of the main characters, revealing their true colours and bravery as they help their friends on their dangerous trip, including a close call avalanche in a mountain path, and a spooky encounter in a forest of giant bats!
Eventually, the herd reaches a vast tar pit, where an arrogant Manny drives headfirst into a sticky mess! The third and final act of the film is a bold, unflinching single shot of Manny writhing and screaming as he sinks deeper and deeper into the scalding tar, veteran voice actor Ray Romano audibly tearing his vocal cords as he gradually shifts from eloquent, enunciated pleading and begging to primal gurgling and screaming, as God pulls the curtain back until the anthropomorphic charade is stripped away, laying bare only a confused, suffering animal. We beg for it to end, but when it does, the fade out shows no credits; just dead eyes in a black mirror looking back at us.
Ice Age 14 will be playing three times a day at the South Rutland Cinescreen from the 4th of April, just in time for the school holidays! Come on down – you’ve got snow business missing out!