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Ice Age
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (6th April 2008). |
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The Film
 In the past I've compared many other computer generated films to those made by Pixar, sometimes it's an unfair comparison considering Pixar's track record. In the case of "Ice Age" I'll leave the comparisons behind, because the film is actually rather fun and entertaining because of a few key reasons, the characters, the casting and the fact that the film doesn't overstay it's welcome it does however continually stretch a single joke beyond it's use by. But I can let that slide because that 'joke' is a very entertaining rodent trying to get his hands on an acorn. This generates a lot of the film's laughter. "Ice Age" tells the story of a group of animals trying to migrate for the winder, all the animals except Manny (Ray Romano) a mammoth who just wants to be alone. He finds this difficult considering he's got an annoying sloth in Sid (John Leguizamo) that just won't leave him alone. Things get worse for the solitude seeking mammoth when they discover a human child that has to be returned. The only problem is that a Sabre-Toothed Tiger named Diego (Denis Leary) wants the baby and has plans to deliver it to his vengeance seeking leader. But instead of revealing his true motivations he joins Manny and Sid on a quest to return the child only to set them up. But things change when the group, through their adventure, forms a bond. While the film's story is simple it's the strength of the characters that carries the film. The casting is perfect with Romano doing a great job as Manny, his performance is reminiscent of his classic comedic style and it suits the character real well. While Leguizamo and Leary also do commendable jobs. It's common practice in the animation world that the actors record their parts individually, but the chemistry and naturalistic tone to the performances feels like these guys were together recording. I suppose this is a testament to the sound mixers and animators for merging these elements together so flawlessly. As mentioned before there's a recurring joke involving a rodent after an acorn. That character, known as Scrat (Chris Wedge) weaves in and out through the film as the main characters venture farther on their adventure. This character and his antics hark back to the Warner Brother's animated shorts and the Silly Symphonies animations by Disney where actions speak louder than words. These sequences are my absolute favorite parts of the film, the various scenarios the filmmakers have concocted for Scrat are endlessly fun. The film is the created by Blue Sky Studios, much like other animation studios Blue Sky started life not entirely focusing on feature-length movies. Blue Sky made commercials and other animated media for corporations until it was purchased by Fox in the late 1990's. "Ice Age" was the studio's first feature film effort. The animation style takes on a cartoon-like influence, some elements are photo real like fur but overall the look is exaggerated. It's in keeping with the light tone of the film but the blocky humans look creepy and stylistically the filmmakers could have gone for a more appealing look for those characters. Upon release the film was a massive hit, earning a huge opening weekend and taking over $170 million domestically. It's not hard to see why, the film features charming characters and possesses a fun tone that can be enjoyed by both adults and children alike. However, one thing that I did notice upon reviewing this Blu-ray is that the film doesn't retain it's hilarity upon repeated viewings (I was expecting the jokes and knew them well, an obvious result of seeing the film many times. But timeless, classic funnies are hard to produce) this outcome will likely be different coming from a audience comprised of children.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 this transfer is in high-definition 1080p and has been created using AVC MPEG-4 compression. Like most CG animated films they simply look their best in HD and "Ice Age" is no exception. The image is simply 'eye candy' material from start to finish. Created from the original digital source this image is free from flaws, no dirt, no specs, no edge-enhancement, no compression problems...nothing. The image is sharp, colorful and packed with detail right down to the single fibers that make up the character's fur or skin. It's a lush and vibrant image that looks great on big displays. This is one to show off.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless surround as well as standard Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in French and Spanish. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD track. This film is packed with all manner of sounds, it's an active, aggressive and totally immersive sound experience. The dialogue is clear and distortion free, subtle ambient sounds add depth, the action orientated scenes are presented with a punch and the film' score sores through the sound space with awe. It's everything you'd want from a soundtrack. Optional subtitles are also included in English, Spanish, Cantonese and Korean.
Extras
Fox has released this film on Blu-ray with only a handful of extras from the previous DVD release of the film, they include an audio commentary, a collection of deleted scenes, theatrical trailers and a series of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up is a feature-length audio commentary by the film's director Chris Wedge and co-director Carlos Saldanha These two seem to have a good working relationship, as this track is light-hearted and energetic however overall I was disappointed that these two didn't go into much more detail regrading the production, story development and elements as well as the animation process. I really wanted more in regards to the whole 'making-of' an animated feature but instead I got a whole lot of chatter about what's happening on screen! I'm not entirely sure but I hope these two know that when people listen to an audio commentary they can also see the movie, I don't need anyone telling me what's happening on screen. "Gone Nutty: Scrat's Missing Adventure" short film runs for 4 minutes 45 seconds, this is an enjoyable little short that's one of the funniest extras on this disc, if you love the character of Scrat then you'll certainly be into this clip. Next up are a series of 6 deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by director Chris Wedge and co-director Carlos Saldanha, who comment on why the scenes were cut. The scenes in question include: - "Paying Toll with Aardvarks" runs for 1 minute 25 seconds, Sid charges some Aardvarks a migration toll. - "Sylvia and Sid Introduction" runs for 1 minute 43 seconds, a female sloth named Sylvia is excited that she and Sid will migrate together, but Sid tries to get out of it. - "Sabre Stake Out" runs for 59 seconds, the Sabre-Toothed Tigers make a plan to attack the humans. - "No More Fruit For You" runs for 1 minute 11 seconds, Sid gets rid of the baby's poo before going to sleep. - "Sid and the Ladies" runs for 46 seconds, Sid returns to the hot pools to swoon the lady sloths but doesn't succeed. - "Sid and Sylvia" runs for 2 minutes 19 seconds, Sylvia finds Sid after searching for him and he makes up a tale of what happened to him, as he makes further excuses to leave. Also on the disc are the film's original theatrical trailer that runs for 2 minutes 18 seconds, theatrical trailer B which runs for 2 minutes 22 seconds and theatrical trailer C which runs for 2 minutes 19 seconds. Rounding out the extras are a series of bonus trailers for: - "Planet of the Apes" which runs for 54 seconds. - "The Fantastic Four" which runs for 2 minutes 28 seconds. - "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" which runs for 1 minute 5 seconds.
Overall
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