Dan and Nancy: Now Playing
The Broomfield Enterprise, Broomfield, CO

"Ice Age" is the story of how a small group of animals come together to return a lost baby to his family. Along the way the group encounter everything from ice slides to dim-witted dodo birds. Starring the voices of Ray Romano (TV's "Everybody Loves Raymond"), John Leguizamo ("Moulin Rouge"), Denis Leary (TV's "The Job"), and Jack Black ("Shallow Hal"). Rated PG for slapstick cartoon violence. Time your family moves from in front of the small screen to the big screen: only 75 minutes.

Nancy's Take: Cartoons attract young and old. Each year one or two cartoons will come out and uplift spirits. "Ice Age" was funny, it had some sad moments, and like most cartoons it was cute. However, something was missing. I can't put my finger on it but maybe it's the fact that it seemed a bit low budget or something that could've been shown on T.V. I'm sure the Cartoon Network would want it.
Maybe it's the fact that I was a bit upset. All I have to say is if you want bad customer service and rude sales people shop at Ethan Allen. Since I was trying to put this incident behind me, "Ice Age" definitely helped me relax and take my mind off my frustrations.
The thing that bothered me the most was how it seemed to copy other movies. It wasn't original at all. It took "The Lion King," "Tarzan," "Monsters Inc." and "Shrek" and combined them together and came up with "Ice Age."
Was this movie worth the price of admission? Yes, but if you want to save money, it would be a better rental. Would I see it again? Yes, with most cartoons its hard not to see them more than once.

Dan's take: As a kid I loved to watch cartoons. Who am I kidding? I still love them. Granted, today's new cartoons seem a little strange, but if I can find Scooby-Doo on TV somewhere, I have to watch it. When it comes to cartoon movies I feel the same way. And even though all the kids in the theater made it feel more like a school field trip than a Saturday night out, I thoroughly enjoyed "Ice Age."
This flick was very funny all the way through but it wasn't as good as "Monsters Inc." or "Shrek." The story is suitable for all ages, except maybe when the saber tooth tiger is talking about eating the baby. Other than that, I think it makes a great family flick. Heck, my grandma even went to see it.
There were at least two things I didn't like. One was that the animation seemed to be sub-par compared to recent cartoon flicks. When the humans moved around they looked more like characters on "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" than cartoons. The other was Ray Romano as the mammoth. His whiny voice didn't fit as the huge mammoth. His voice is better suited for dog or something like a duck.
So is "Ice Age" worth the price of admission? Yes, totally. Is it worth seeing again? Like every cartoon movie, I'll end up watching this one many times.

By Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi. Broomfield, CO
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