Review: "Ice Age"- A Chilly Screening Doesn't Dampen Gem
Computer-Animation Films Here To Stay
'Ice Age' (PG) 
I believe that we have truly seen the end of traditional cartoon animation.
In 1991, "Beauty and the Beast" used computer animation to generate a rotating ballroom scene that introduced us to innovative ways of bringing scenes to life. Then in 1995, we were baffled with the fully computer-animated film "Toy Story," and Hollywood has not looked back. Success this past year with "Shrek" and "Monsters Inc." have shown us that computer animation is going to stay, and brings us a realism that drawn cartoons had been lacking.
20th Century Fox set up the first "Frozen Screening" of "Ice Age" outside the Mall of America in the Twin Cities, with patrons of all ages having the opportunity to watch the film on a 30-foot screen in fittingly chilly temperatures. Special appearances by a winter swim team and one of the film's voices, John Leguizamo ("Moulin Rouge") helped to introduce the film, and as the sun set, the screen lit up and we were taken back into a world when man was not the dominant species on the Earth.
The story is simple. After the majority of animals have started migrating to avoid the upcoming ice age, Manfred the Mammoth and Sid the Sloth set out to return a human baby to its father after a pack of saber-toothed tigers tears the family apart.
One of the tigers, Diego, is ordered to bring the baby to the leader of the pack or else he will be left to fend for himself. Diego convinces Manfred and Sid that he is a tracker and can show them the way to the father, while in reality he is plotting to have them ambushed when they arrive at their destination.
The unlikely trio end up having to work together to reach their goal, and each develops a love for the baby. Now Diego must face the decision of betraying his new friends, or finishing his job to keep his status with his fellow tigers.
Voice talents include Ray Romano (Manfred), Leguizamo (Sid), Dennis Leary (Diego), and also include Jack Black, Goran Visnjic (of "ER"), and Cedric the Entertainer. The voices are fantastic, especially the lisping Leguizamo, but the star of the show is the animation.
The artists give the animals expressions that are so human in detail that you would swear the creatures are actual people in make-up. My biggest complaint about computer animation is that life-like movement cannot be replicated, but this movie comes closer than any other I have seen before.
Add these elements to a witty story that keeps the adult and child audience entertained, and you have yourself a great family picture worthy of braving the elements outside to witness the "Ice Age" inside. -- Patrick Morgan
I believe that we have truly seen the end of traditional cartoon animation.
In 1991, "Beauty and the Beast" used computer animation to generate a rotating ballroom scene that introduced us to innovative ways of bringing scenes to life. Then in 1995, we were baffled with the fully computer-animated film "Toy Story," and Hollywood has not looked back. Success this past year with "Shrek" and "Monsters Inc." have shown us that computer animation is going to stay, and brings us a realism that drawn cartoons had been lacking.
20th Century Fox set up the first "Frozen Screening" of "Ice Age" outside the Mall of America in the Twin Cities, with patrons of all ages having the opportunity to watch the film on a 30-foot screen in fittingly chilly temperatures. Special appearances by a winter swim team and one of the film's voices, John Leguizamo ("Moulin Rouge") helped to introduce the film, and as the sun set, the screen lit up and we were taken back into a world when man was not the dominant species on the Earth.
The story is simple. After the majority of animals have started migrating to avoid the upcoming ice age, Manfred the Mammoth and Sid the Sloth set out to return a human baby to its father after a pack of saber-toothed tigers tears the family apart.
One of the tigers, Diego, is ordered to bring the baby to the leader of the pack or else he will be left to fend for himself. Diego convinces Manfred and Sid that he is a tracker and can show them the way to the father, while in reality he is plotting to have them ambushed when they arrive at their destination.
The unlikely trio end up having to work together to reach their goal, and each develops a love for the baby. Now Diego must face the decision of betraying his new friends, or finishing his job to keep his status with his fellow tigers.
Voice talents include Ray Romano (Manfred), Leguizamo (Sid), Dennis Leary (Diego), and also include Jack Black, Goran Visnjic (of "ER"), and Cedric the Entertainer. The voices are fantastic, especially the lisping Leguizamo, but the star of the show is the animation.
The artists give the animals expressions that are so human in detail that you would swear the creatures are actual people in make-up. My biggest complaint about computer animation is that life-like movement cannot be replicated, but this movie comes closer than any other I have seen before.
Add these elements to a witty story that keeps the adult and child audience entertained, and you have yourself a great family picture worthy of braving the elements outside to witness the "Ice Age" inside. -- Patrick Morgan
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