Ice Age: The Meltdown Blu-ray delivers stunningly beautiful video and superb audio in this excellent Blu-ray release
Your favorite sub-zero heroes are back for another incredible adventure in the super-cool
animated comedy Ice Age the Meltdown! The action heats up - and so does the temperature -
for Manny, Sid, Diego and Scrat. Trying to escape the valley to avoid a flood of trouble, the
comical creatures embark on a hilarious journey across the thawing landscape and meet Ellie, a
female woolly mammoth who melts Manny's heart. With its dazzling animation, unforgettable
characters and an all-new Scrat short, Ice Age: The Meltdown is laugh-out-loud fun for the
whole family!
What would the world be without sequels to movies starring cute animated characters? We're up to
about ten zillion Land Before Time movies and several Shrek flicks, so it comes as
no surprise that the success of Fox's lovable, all digital smash hit Ice Age has spawned a sequel, Ice Age: The
Meltdown, with a third movie in the franchise (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs)
planned for 2009. While this second film in the series returns to us four of the most memorable
and cherished characters of recent memory (and introduces us to a few more), Meltdown
fails to provide the same charm, wit, action, and laugh-a-minute jokes that populated the first.
Make no mistake, Meltdown is a worthy successor, but like so many sequels, this one just
can't quite manage to re-capture the magic of the first.
Thankfully, Scrat has always been a Bruce Lee fan.
Manny (Ray Romano, Welcome to Mooseport), Sid (John
Leguizamo, Land of the Dead), and Diego (Denis Leary, Rescue Me) are back, this time trying to escape a new crisis--global
warming. Despite the warnings of "Fast Tony" (Al Gore, er, Jay Leno, Cars) that global warming is here, our trio of misfit heroes doesn't believe
it
until they see the melting ice for themselves. Once again migrating towards safety, this
hodgepodge of heroes must
deal with their individual struggles. Sid tries to find acceptance, Diego must face his fear of
water,
and Manny comes to terms with the fact that he may be the only Wooly Mammoth left alive--
until
he meets a female mammoth named Ellie (Queen Latifah, Hairspray, perhaps so named as an homage to E.L.E. from Deep
Impact, an acronym for "Extinction Level Event," certainly an appropriate monicker here).
Unfortunately for Manny, however, Ellie has been raised by
possums, and she believes herself to be one. As Manny tries to convince her otherwise, the
group marches onward, in search of the migrating pack that they hope will lead them away from
the end of the world. They'll face more comical trials and tribulations along the way, each
character learning a little something about themselves, their world, and the importance of
friendship and sticking together.
Ice Age: The Meltdown definitely offers up fewer laughs than its predecessor as the film
takes on a slightly more serious tone. The action is also toned down, the enemy this time a pair
of
alligator-fish type creatures who dwell underwater, obviously putting our group in imminent
danger as the ice melts and more water covers the Earth. A companion for Manny was a given
in this film, and Queen Latifah provides an excellent and amusing foil to the character of Manny,
especially while she believes herself to be a possum. Sid, of course, remains as lovable and
foolhardy as ever, while Diego maintains his aura of toughness over a soft, well-mannered
interior. Scrat also returns, getting himself into more misadventures in mere minutes than the
entire cast of Ice Age has managed over two full-length films, and his presence solidifies
both the film and the laughs. While Ice Age: The Meltdown is a slower, slightly less
magical
film than the first, it's a good, worthwhile film in its own right, one that should please most fans
of the first movie.
Fox thaws Ice Age: The Meltdown onto Blu-ray in a pristine, flawless 1080p high
definition
transfer. Framed at the same 1.85:1 ratio as its predecessor, this sequel sports a wonderful,
superior image that manages to outshine the excellent transfer of the first film on Blu-ray. For
starters, the animation looks and feels much more natural and lifelike in this film. Digital
animation
technology has definitely come a long way in the four years between Ice Age films, and
I'm
already eager to see how these characters will look in the third installment, coming next year.
Color reproduction on this disc, as expected, is perfectly rendered in the digital environment,
providing rich and pleasing hues across nearly the entire spectrum of the palette, evidenced on
the many animals seen early in the film. The primary shades remain the same as those seen in
the first
film--blues, tans, and browns, but every color is really something to behold, and there are enough
of them to make Crayola's big box of crayons jealous. The image is simply marvelous, and
coming direct to you from the original digital source via Blu-ray, there is nary a hint of those
pesky issues that can effect film stocks. The image is very deep and detailed, definitely appearing
three dimensional, almost literally popping out of the screen and into your living room. This time
around, fine attention to detail has been paid to the individual hairs on each character's hide, and
they move about seamlessly and naturally, each individual one taking on a life of its own thanks
to the talented digital artists who poured so much work into this film. Fox has delivered another
top-quality transfer here, and their record of producing first-class Blu-ray discs keeps them right
near the top of the list of best content providers on the format.
Matching the fine video transfer bit-for-bit is the excellent DTS-HD MA soundtrack that appears on
this disc. It offers some very fine, deep bass, especially from falling and cracking ice, or when
Ellie falls out of her tree. It's never overplayed, but rather sounds about as we would expect: loud,
powerful, clear. The track is a bit weak in spots, failing to provide complete immersion, such as an
underwater scene early on, but it's loud, active, and impressive nevertheless. Sound moves
seamlessly from one speaker to the next, such as during a scene in chapter 6 where Scrat rolls
around with his head stuck in ice, or as heard in chapter 13 as Manny whirls a tree trunk around
the characters on-screen, and therefore around your circle of speakers as well. Dialogue
reproduction is once again
fantastic, and the voice actors are again at the top of their games, as they were in the first Ice
Age film. Queen Latifah adds a bit of attitude and sweetness to the proceedings, and she fits
right in with Romano, Leguizamo, and Leary. Fox yet again delivers a terrific listening experience
with a great high definition DTS mix. Happy listening!
Unlike its predecessor, Ice Age: The Meltdown comes with enough supplements, or in
this case, "cool stuff," to keep
fans busy for quite a while as they dig through several good features. First up are two
commentary
tracks. The first features director Carlos Saldanha. He discusses how working as co-director on
the
first film helped hone his skills in making a good sequel. We learn about the basics in making a
competent, enjoyable sequel, the improvements in the look of the characters (especially the fur),
and the creative challenges in keeping the characters "fresh and funny" the second time around.
Saldanha goes over the writing of the film, the process of coming up with some of the jokes, and
creating a
more
vast, complex world for the characters to interact in. For a solo effort, Saldanha does a very good
job here, making for an enjoyable and informative track.
The second track is a "crew commentary" with producer Lori Forte, effects supervisor Robert
Cavaleri, art director Tom Cardone, lighting supervisor Dave Esneault, senior lighting lead Andrew
Beddini, supervising animator Jim Bresnahan, lead animator Aaron Hartline, animation technical
lead Matt Simmons, annimation supervisor Galen Tan Chu, materials supervisor Michael Eringis,
Chris Renaud from the story department, and supervising animator Mike Thurmeier. Whew.
Needless to say, each person has a lot to contribute to the track, and frankly it's nearly impossible
to keep up with who's who, but based on what they talk about you get a general idea of what
each
worked on. Fans of digital animation will have a blast listening to this one. It is a bit daunting at
best and overwhelming at worst, but for anyone wanting to learn about how the film was made,
this is one of the best tracks out there to listen to.
Delving into the rest of the supplements, we are first greeted by Meltdown Shorts,
bringing us a feature entitled No Time For Nuts (1080p, 7:10), another fun Scrat
adventure. Also under this subheading is Crash & Eddie Stunts & Outtake (1080p,
1:52), a series of four short scenes not found in the movie, each featuring the possums who
raised Ellie from a teeny Mammoth. The
animation on these is first-rate. Next up is The Animation Director's Chair, a series of six
short scenes that allow the viewer to see the film in four separate stages--"storyboards,"
"layout," "animation," and "final." I really enjoyed this feature. It's easy to navigate and
fascinating to see clips from the film in different stages of development. Moving along, Lost
Historical Films is a series of six, 1950s-style documentaries, presented in 480p, about the
creatures found in the film. These are obviously meant to be for nothing but laughs, and the
style works. Another enjoyable feature.
Ice Age Arcade allows viewers to play two games in 1080p. The first, entitled Factoid
Meltdown, asks viewers questions from the movie with clips from the film serving as clues,
should you need them. The second game, Who's Your Buddy?, asks a series of questions
with no right or wrong answer. When complete, you find out who your buddy is based on how
you answered the questions. My buddy was Sid. Next is the Artist Gallery Channel, a
feature that allows you to watch the film "with drawings, sketches, and renderings from the
artists that created the movie." Viewers can turn this feature on and off by navigating through
the pop-up menu. Scrat's Piranha Smackdown Sound Effects Lab lets viewers watch this
now-classic scene with five different sound effects inserted into the scene--"animals," "car
noises," "classic cartoons," "human noises," and "musical instruments." This is yet another very
well-done extra. Next are 1080p trailers for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Fantastic Four, Planet of the Apes, and Ice Age. Finally, a now-redundant first look at The Simpsons Movie (1080p, 1:03) concludes this long, extensive, and
enjoyable list of
special features.
Though a bit slower paced and not quite as entertaining as the first film in the franchise, Ice
Age: The Meltdown nevertheless sees the return of the same fantastic character set, each
maturing before our eyes throughout the film. The laugh factor remains high, mostly thanks to
Scrat and Sid, and the rest of the characters, both old and new, fill out the roster and together
make a worthwhile sequel that's better than a lot of similar animated sequels. Fans of the movie
and of the series should be ecstatic about adding this disc to their collection. It offers up a superior
video and audio quality, as well as a heaping helping of extras that are fun and informative.
Highly recommended!
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