Wow i can’t believe it’s already out here today, but i can’t watch it now, have to wait til tomorrow =(
Btw Rotten Tomatoes already had 51 reviews counted til now, with a total percentage of 37%, mostly feel bored but Ebert did give it a 3,5/4 stars !
Hate to say it guys, highly anticipated by me for months, but indeed it was [spoil]boring.[/spoil] Reading what Ebert and the other critic said, it was hard to say we watched the same movie. Plz stop reading this if you want to go into the theater with confident gusto.
The quality of animation: innovative, attractive, even seductive. M. vs. A. wasn’t even in the same ballpark. Lots of fur and plants and light to play with. The 3-D action scenes are just hard to beat.
Crowd report: sad, only 7 people showed up. I, being a large part of the ‘crowd’ laughed out loud about 3-4 times, which wasn’t much, and was much less than expectations. Without a large crowd, the impact was much less and with the late hour and some food in my system, I got sleepy. Since it was boring, my eyes got heavy 2/3 the way thru the film. The other peeps in the theater weren’t laughing any more than I was. Either I missed many of the jokes or was sleepy. Still, I hope to see the last third again, to view what I missed with the heavy eyelids, which opened every time Scrat appeared.
So the TM rating went from 75% to 37% in the past 2 days, and I don’t care what Ebert says, the story was Boring. It will be ok for little kiddies and some of their moms. All 3 storylines in the movie, including the Scrat one, had a common theme. Only the Scrat one was interesting. Many scenes were interesting and well done, but the overall plot just didn’t carry the film.
What I had feared, that 3-D and jokes would dominate the quality came true. The dinosaur angle really wasn’t offensive to me. You will be happy to know that the Indians or Eskimo’s or Neanderthals or whatever they are didn’t come into play with the dino’s. You know, just as in the movie Dinosaurs in 2002 or so, when you have ruined landscapes or bleak ice terrains, you need to perk the story up. [spoil]The dino’s were shown in a lush landscape, which was very nice animation-wise[/spoil].
Blue Sky used fairly well-known dino’s and continued to fail to show a whole host of interesting mammals and reptiles who have lived during the many ice ages of the past 8 million years. The brilliantly conceived odd behavior of the female mammoth in IA2, acting as if she was a tree weasel, wasn’t reprised in any new characters here. Only one of the old chars had any further development, [spoil] it was Sid as a mom[/spoil]. With so many creatures of the past 100,000,000 years to choose from, and their dominance of this time period of the animation market, why can’t they do a better job?
Sorry, I read it before your recent edit and you broke my heart. 
Well, not really, but you did take the wind out of my sails.
Oh my, that’s lonely! Was it a matinee or a night showing?
So I heard… well, they’re movie critics after all, but maybe there’s some truth in that, I don’t know, can’t say till I’ve watched it like them and you… 
I was hoping the Eskimo family (with the kid all grown-up) would make a cameo or something… what a wasted opportunity!
Maybe because she already knew she was a mammoth by the end of IA2? And her ‘brothers’ are possums, BTW.
If what you say is true (and I’m not saying it isn’t…), then that is pretty disappointing. I’m just hoping that Buck the weasel has some interesting characterisations to make up for the lack of other characters in the dino world.
Well, I’m still going to see it, but I’ll take DarkHand’s critcisms into consideration. 
Yeah, just saw it despite promising myself I wasn’t going to, and it was a bit rubbish.
You know, the characters are pretty decent. I really enjoyed the original when it first came out. But as the sequels have been released, to make it more interesting more and more ‘main’ characters have been added to the ‘herd’ and so it meant that absolutely none of them, including the original characters, had any development.
It was indeed a very pretty film, nice to watch in 3D, but that was about it. It wasn’t funny at all, the script was very poor, and the plot made little sense. What I liked about the original was that there was an obvious goal right from the beginning, but with this one it takes about half an hour before there IS any plot, and by the time stuff actually starts to happen you don’t care anyway!
Buck was pretty much the only interesting point in the whole movie, and even HIS character ‘arc’ ended on a silly and predictable note! He’s fun to watch, with such lovely fluid movements, great voice acting by Simon Pegg and all that sort of thing, but aside from his quirky mannerisms (which were really the only funny parts of the movie) nothing was explored about his character, and I thought that was a shame. I mean, the obvious question that I was asking throughout was [spoil]why did he go down to live with the dinosaurs in the first place? He clearly knew how to get out of there so he could’ve left at any time, yet he preferred to live by himself. Why?[/spoil]
Oh, and don’t get me started on the whole Scrat/Scratte thing. BORING.
So basically, unless you’re a really big fan of the Ice Age films and their characters, it isn’t really worth seeing in my opinion.
Despite the negative reviews, I am still looking forward to seeing this movie. Not only am I curious to see what Blue Sky did with number 3, but I am also curious as to how they handled the 3D aspect of the film.
Yes, he does. He works with lighting and materials. Don’t remember which he worked on for Ice Age though. Haven’t talked with him in awhile.
I was a little disappointed with the movie, but it really did make me laugh.
Oh no, not you too, lizardgirl! So that’s two negative reviews on the board so far!
Coming from one of the few forum members I respect for opinions, this is utterly devastating. 
I had a gut feeling that was gonna happen, aside from searching from Sid, I’m not really sure whether there’s gonna be any other driving narrative force. Maybe they shoulda renamed it “Finding Sid-o.”
Well, great that you liked his eccentricities and all that (I love me some quirky oddball characters), but it is disappointing to know his resolution won’t be good.
Whelp, I’m still gonna follow Hannahmation’s stance and persistently watch this film. I’ve waited far too long for this! 
To those who’ve watched it, was the 3-D subtle like Bolt or in-your-face like Monsters vs Aliens? 
Oh, that’s cool. Maybe you should ask if he worked on this one and what he thinks of the movie.
In the meantime, here’s the official featurette for waiting fans. 
“Rule number one: listen to Buck!” 
EDIT TSS too? But it’s a ‘meh’ vibe for you, is it? Details?
Check this crazy reweiw out. Three aand a half from Roger ebert!
rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbc … /906299995
I saw it today. I thought it was a lot better than I thought it would be. It was funny and amusing at some parts but it lacked origanality, and had too much jokes that went to far… It also said butt like 13 times which started to tick me off after I while. I won’t go on about the jokes. I would give it about Two and a half to 3 stars out of four. 
As much as I love the man for his comeback lines and insults and hate him for his snooty opinions, I must wonder what he must be smoking to have given Ice Age such a high rating? Didn’t know an old codger like him could find something to love in an animated flick. Judging by his review though, I guess one thing we can look forward to are the action sequences, which he describes as “inventive”.
So it’s an above-average, TAMATER? Well, at least it’s a positive verdict. Raised my hopes a little.
A bit harsher than my comments, so let me critique your critique:
Some really good movies don’t get a plot until well into the movie, things have to gel, and I gave this movie alot of patience, until 2/3 thru when I started counting sheep. IceAge2 had an obvious early on plot: it’s melting now, get out of the way, ice dam ready to break, haul butt.
For me, the cutaways to him/her were half the few funny parts in the movie. What you see in the trailer, the crying, the acorn, [spoil]the flying squirrelette[/spoil] got several laughs out of me. The very brief scene where some of the foliage is clipped away, [spoil]revealing the couple who obviously had just had sex[/spoil] got a laugh from me, I think everyone else in the theater didn’t get it, it happened so fast. And then the [spoil]fickle furniture rearranging scene[/spoil] was hilarious. Here too, I don’t think the 6 other patrons figured out what Scratte was asking Scrat to do. The last scene where Scrat has the acorn and [spoil]jiggles it around to tease Scratte, “ha ha, I got it, you didn’t”[/spoil] was cute. The sticky oil scene where Scratte rips away the acorn [spoil]and part of Scrat’s fur coat[/spoil] wasn’t as funny to me (oh no poor Wall-E, I mean Scrat), they are using that scene to advertise the film and I just saw it on TV while typing this!
I disagree with you lizardgirl that there wasn’t any char dev in the old mainline guys. [spoil]Sid did indeed become a mom, and wasn’t the complete disaster that the mammoth thought he would be[/spoil]. His persistence at this was laudable. It was, again, one of the 4-5 storylines of the entire movie, and it was somewhat successful.
Buck. I agree with you that this char was confusing, and his ending was a bit cheesy. So I have to amend what I said earlier, there are at least 5 storylines, one is: [spoil]his need to foil the biggest dino[/spoil]. Fortunately, he didn’t have a French accent, which his appearance seems to dictate. [spoil]Finding Sid is another storyline.[/spoil] The last line in the story was [spoil]the birthing of Peaches[/spoil] which wasn’t all that interesting to me.
So most of the film was about [spoil]birthing, getting married, being a mother[/spoil] and all those common elements were far less interesting than ice dam’s breaking, glaciers on the move at 30 mph, and a secret saber tooth tiger pack skulking in the background. I’m just very disappointed that so much money is spent making something this trite, sorry thedriveintheater, but our hopes were raised…
"In many ways the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up themselves and their work for our judgment.
We thrive on negative criticism which is fun to write and read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."
I thoroughly enjoyed Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It was personally my favorite of the 3 films to date. The movie was entertaining and full of adventure. It’s disappointing to see so many negative reviews. I’m happy to see Roger Ebert enjoyed it as well as all of my friends and family. A lot of talented people worked extremely hard on this film and it’s one I am proud to be a part of.
Well, it’s good that you have a balanced opinion and were able to weigh the pros and cons, DarkHand (not saying lizardgirl doesn’t, but maybe DH derived more entertainment thant lizardgirl did ). Can’t say I’m not disappointed, though.
Finally, a good review! 
Well, I’m glad that you liked it! So you were on the production team, huh, someone? What was your role?
Man, with the mixed reviews this is getting (mostly leaning towards bad), I can say I’m fairly anxious about this movie. I hope it’s as fun as I’m delusionally hoping it would be. 
Guess I can only find out come Cheap Tuesday…
Well just watched it last night, the seats were full, i had to wait in long lines just to watch it 
this is just an opinion from common ppl me, not critics.
What i didn’t like : lack of characters’ progress, i love how they introduced Buck, but afterall i felt like i was watching an animated version of Jurassic Park + humors. [spoil]I also kinda disappointed with how easy Rudy got beaten, even at the end of story we saw Buck’s trying to tame Rudy easily, while at the beginning Buck introduced how fierce Rudy was.[/spoil]
Sid became kinda boring (but some of his words rly made me laugh), [spoil]and even the birth of Peaches did not feel so special, but still made audiences ohh-ed sry i don’t know how to say that one in English[/spoil]
What i like : Well, it is still enjoyable, & laughable, Scrat, this time together with Scratte succeed to make audiences laugh (especially [spoil]the Tango scene[/spoil]), while i have to admit the last scenes of them [spoil](where the acorn feels neglected, the Scrat decorating the house, Scrat falls in love back with the acorn, and then separation of Scrat & Scratte)[/spoil] were predictable. The storyline was easy to understand (and also a lil bit weak) [spoil]The helium scene[/spoil] was just absurd, and of course [spoil]BUCK ! It’s a shame he doesn’t want to join the herd…[/spoil]
It was sure a pure entertainment for me, but NOT for a life changing movie experience like Pixar, so consider it by yourself if you still want to watch it…
i give it 7/10
Saw it on the opening day (July 1st) in 3D. I’ll make it short: bad and unoriginal movie full of slapstick and toilet humor. But not as bad as Madagascar 2… And the 3D was pointless gimmick with nothing special.
3,5/10
thedriveintheatre- At times, the 3D was quite effective but there were scenes that were obviously made just for the 3D effect. I guess that’s to be expected with this new medium, but they were really, really obvious scenes that clearly wouldn’t have been in the movie (or at least wouldn’t have lasted as long) if the 3D effect was not available.
I admit that my review was harsh, but as someone who very rarely goes to see animated movies in the cinema, I guess I’ve just got used to Pixar’s high standards and have been missing out on how the rest of the animated world has been progressing. The areas in which Pixar excel seem to be some of Blue Sky’s weakest points, and maybe that’s why the things like the poor character development and lack of a plot stood out to me so much.
But of course, by all means, go and see the film and judge for yourself. It might just be your cup of tea more than mine.
DarkHandOfSigourneyWeaver- The lack of an obvious plot early on did confuse me a bit. It seemed, to me at least, to be one of the things I thought they’d get right with Ice Age 3, simply because they have in the past, but apparently not.
I can see why the Scrat/Scratte thing should be funny and can be funny, but I personally didn’t laugh despite recognising all of the jokes that you’d mentioned. I just found the idea of Scrat getting a girlfriend rather cheesy (though obviously there had to be some development from the previous two films) and, well, I dunno why, but it just didn’t appeal to me from then on. I had the feeling that I should’ve been finding those scenes funny, but I didn’t- I wanted to get back to the main ‘storyline’.
Well, maybe I exagerrated. There was some character development, but it was both minute and also a bit in-your-face. It’s as though every character was assigned a ‘problem’ and then there was the resolvement of that. Diego’s ‘development’ disappointed me the most. He was my favourite character in the previous instalments but I really wanted a desk to bang my head on when I heard one of his last lines in the movie.
Buck is definitely a highlight, and I did like his accent, but yeah, what he did at the end of the movie didn’t make much sense to me. You’re very right in that the whole movie seems to be ‘trite’, as though they were trying to humanize the characters too much. I mean, of course they’re going to have human elements, but if Sid was eaten halfway through the movie by a dinosaur, I really wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.
I think I may come to the same conclusion, sayurkangkung. It should be a fun ride, but ultimately not thought-provoking or emotionally-invested as Pixar is. And could you please spoiler-tag that last bit about Buck? You ruined that bit for me.
eerik - I’m a fan of Madagascar 2, and while I agree it’s by no means epic-great, it was still one of Dreamworks’ better efforts than say Bee Movie or Shark Tale. Although they share some similarities in the sense that they give each character a problem to solve and see where they go from there, which may come off as lazy scriptwriting for some.
lizardgirl - I can see what you mean by the straightforward character development, which is Blue Sky’s effort at trying to be like Pixar, but is one of the shortcomings of the series. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I appreciate their attempts, and some of them even stirred my emotions (like Diego finally confronting his fear or Manny saving Ellie in the second), but I don’t know how this one will go until I see it, I guess. As for the Scrat x Scratte subplot, if it’s as uninspired as people are saying it to be, I will be sorely disappointed.
And that would be the end of the franchise, I guess.
Manny: “Oh well, Sid’s dead. Let’s go home, guys.”
The current Tomatometer rating stands at a below average 45%, while the more public-opinionated IMDB rating is residing at 7.7/10. Both sites have their advantages and disadvantages; RT’s opinion is mainly formed by film critics who usually don’t find any sort of enjoyment from summer blockbusters, but they could be pretty detached and hence may have a more objective viewpoint, while IMDB’s rating is by the common moviegoer like you and me, so their opinion may be closer to ours, but they can get pretty partisan not to mention they may have vested interests if they’re studio plants. I think I’ll disregard whatever critics have said, official or otherwise, and just go in and see what I make of it, like lizardgirl suggested.
Tuesday can’t come soon enough.
Alright I’ve decided that this is the worst animated film of the year so far. And if Astro boy isn’t to horrible, then it will remain like this. The film was just put together very horribly. Barely anything in it made sense, and as lizardgirl said the plot came in 30 minutes before it’s over, and when it did came in no one cared! One of the main reasons I think this was ruined is because of the crude jokes in it. I mean come on, you know what I mean! Plus there was a bunch of bathroom jokes in it which happened adleast once every three minutes! Some of the elements in it were funny, and some scenes were good so for that it gets 2 out of 4 stars from me! 
Dude,what happend?! I saw it yesterday and as much as I hate to admit it it wasn’t good.It felt like something was missing.And not enough Crash and Eddie dialoge.Man this was bad except for certian parts like when [spoil]Ellie had her baby and the whole part about peaches and all[/spoil].Some people still complain about Cars, you have no right after this !I was VERY disappionted.
At TAMATER and LightningAndSally’s reviews:
Oh no… this can’t be happening! cries
…
I saw this movie last Wednsday and I’m somewhat surprised at some of the reviews I’m seeing. I thought it was okay, for a non-pixar animated movie. I laughed several times. Sure, its not going to do great at the Oscars, but hey, I thought it was worth the money. As for the bathroom jokes, I did think they were a little over-used.