That my interest in this CGI kid-flick franchise has even been mild is mainly thanks to the somewhat off-kilter casting of Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo, and so it’s to my pleasant surprise that their presence is not the only reason I enjoyed the third entry as much as I did.
It follows Romano’s wooly mammoth and Leary’s Saber-tooth tiger, along with Queen Latifah‘s pregnant lady mammoth, down into a dinosaur-filled underworld as they try to rescue Leguizamo’s sloth from an understandably angry T-Rex.
Some will probably nitpick at the inaccuracy of dinosaurs and mammoths co-existing, which the filmmakers brush off with a single comment by Latifah, and point out that the main characters merely learn lessons rather than get developed.
But the voice work by the leads is comfortable and funny, though Leary has comparatively little to do, and the pair of possums voiced by Josh Peck and Seann William Scott are also amusing. Simon Pegg tops them all, though, as a hilarious one-eyed weasel akin to Marlon Brando‘s crazy colonel in Apocalypse Now.
There are also plenty of scenes to amuse the kids. Like Leguizamo chasing dino eggs down a hill, pretty much anything the baby dinos do, or how the characters getting trapped in a helium-filled cavern allows for a clever Alvin and the Chipmunks reference. Not mention how broccoli figures into the weasel’s wacky theories on what happened to Leguizamo.
Franchise favorite Scrat the Squirrel gets an expanded role here, too, as his continued efforts to acquire that elusive acorn meet with competition from a pretty lady squirrel. Yet as much as I like the little guy, and the inventive ways directors Carlos Saldanha and Mike Thurmeier weave his exploits into the main story, a little Scrat goes a long way.
Mostly I liked that the film never felt frantic, especially during the finale (which includes an exciting pterodactyl chase and a tussle with a giant dino), and was impressed with some the visuals, like the lava waterfall and the sequence which plays out the weasel’s tale of his encounter with said giant dino. And the birth of the adorable little baby mammoth is sure to melt even the iciest heart. – [DVD]
Animation/Action/Adventure/Comedy/Family
Rated PG
DVD Release Date: 10/27/09
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