Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Scrat is still trying to nab the ever-elusive nut (while, maybe, finding true love); Manny and Ellie await the birth of their mini-mammoth; Diego the Saber-toothed Tiger wonder if he's growing too "soft" hanging with this pals and Sid the Sloth gets into trouble when he creates his own makeshift family by hijacking some dinosaur eggs. On a mission to rescue the hapless Sid, the gang ventures into a mysterious underground world, where they have some close encounters with dinosaurs, battle flora and fauna, run amuck, and meet a relentless, one-eyed, dino-hunting weasel named buck.

This series is getting a bit long in the tooth for me. The characters are good, but haven’t grown on me as much as some of the other animated series out there. Much like Shrek, the humor is getting a bit stale, though the animation keeps getting better and better. The film still has its laughs and there is plenty of heart here, but in the end it was pretty forgettable entertainment. I do hope Blue Sky animation stays in the game though; I just want to see them branch out and work on some new material.

Fox delivers an outstanding HD presentation here with little to complain about. The animation in this series just gets better and better and there is plenty of visual eye candy throughout this one. My only gripe was the very minor amount of fine noise in the transfer that seemed to pop up more often than I would like. Whether you’ll see this on typical consumer display sizes is unknown but on my large screen it popped up quite a bit. Colors dazzle and image “pop” was outstanding throughout and I can’t see many having any complaints here at all. The 7.1 DTS-HD soundtrack is also good, though a tad front heavy overall. While surrounds do add to the fun, ambiance was a bit lacking. Deep bass response is exceptional, especially with the bad guys footfalls.

Looks like Fox’s animation studio is taking a few cues from Disney on this release. This set features both a digital copy and the standard DVD presentation in the Blu-ray package. You also get lots of fun interactive features for the younger audience, production features and more. The disc is BD-Live enabled and also features two of Scrat’s shorts. Definitely not lacking in the goodies department.

While not quite up to par with the better animated films out there in the story department, Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs is still fun family entertainment. Fox has delivered a great package here with a pretty solid presentation.