Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

Ice Age 3: The Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a fun addition to the Ice Age franchise and a fine enough movie in its own right. While perhaps not as good across all counts as its two predecessors, it is exceptional in its use of 3D esp. during chase scenes. See Ice Age 3 in 3D if at all possible! Our story begins as two mammoths, Mannie (Ray Romano with his beleaguered everyman's voice) and Ellie (Queen Latifah with her ghettolicious mama's voice) are seeking a home for the delivery of their bun in the oven -- with the company of their friends, saber-tooth tiger Diego (Denis Leary) as an aging alpha male and bug-eyed sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) as the resident lisp-sputtering nerd. They discover a subterranean world of dinosaurs; threats, chases, and fights ensue; cloyingly cute, cooing babies are born (T-rex and mammoth) and a cozy family vibe is affirmed with a happy ending. Ice Age 3 is basically Jurassic Park 3 stripped halfway down to The Land That Time Forgot. It's a family movie that virtually defangs several large and lethal dinosaur breeds because of how they are drawn (caricatured) and how they never actually manage to catch the heroes they're madly chasing. If you have a four- or five-year-old who can handle such implied perils so long as no one gets caught or killed, Ice Age 3 should be a no-brainer esp. for the dinosaur lovers of your clan. (My 11-year-old son felt sorrow at the demise of the biggest, baddest dinosaur though as we soon learned, he needn't have worried.) My favorite new character in this movie is Buck (Simon Pegg), a jaunty one-eyed vine-swinging Aussie weasel (though in any other context all those things together might be a bad thing), who almost steals the show. And joy of joys, Scrat the psycho squirrel is back, pursuing his beloved acorn as well as the girl squirrel Scratte -- their story-in-a-story is hilarious esp. during the song "Alone Again (Naturally)"! In summary, Ice Age 3 is for families and will leave you with big grins on your faces. 4 stars.