In "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" the whole gang is back and ready for a good time. This time the ice is on the verge of melting and flooding the area where the herd lives. There only solution is to move away to find some solid ground. Scat, the crazy squirrel is back in a much more prominent part this time. Of course his sole mission is still to grab the ever elusive acorn which remains just out of reach. Diego, Manny and Sid (Dennis Leary, Ray Ramono, and John Legemazno) lead the pack of animals to a safer area.****

Along the way they meet Ellie (Queen Latifah), a mammoth who thinks that she is a opossum. Despite the obvious physical similarities between her and Manny it takes more to convince her that she is a opossum. Her two brothers, Crash and Eddie stole every scene that they were in, they were mischievous, rowdy, and full of fun. The rest of the friends tried to play matchmaker hooking up Ellie and Manny to save the species but I can't tell you how it ends, you will have to watch for yourself.****

I thought this was even more funny then the original Ice Age. The new characters added a lot of new dynamic to the mix and it was a great mix. With all the original voices back, this all star cast of voices and original characters there was no way this movie could miss. It's family friendly entertainment sure to leave you waiting for number three.

Image and Sound:

Visually, this film is comparable to the first. There were new characters introduced so in that respect it was superior because with more characters comes more visual stimulation. It seemed a little pixally to me since several times throughout the movie the scene appeared to be breaking apart. There were parts that seemed a little too computer generated like when the damn breaks but overall it was a pleasure to watch. The sound effects were good as well. Each scene has appropriate background

The special features in this film are called "Cool Stuff" which is just what it is. As always on the animated flicks there is a ton of special features so let us get right to it. "Crash and Eddie Stunts" are just a few extra scenes with those ridiculous possums acting out. My favorite of the three scenes is the peace out, you'll see why, it's funny stuff. In "The Animation Director's Chair" you can select a scene and then select which stage of the production you wish to review. There are six scenes to choose from and each one of those you can choose to view the storyboard, layout, animation, combo and the final. It's pretty interesting if animation is your thing. "Meet Crash and Eddie" have the producers and animators talk about how these two came to be and what their characters are all about. It talks about their relationship as brothers and how they terrorize the herd. "Meet Ellie" is of course the exact same thing except that it is all about Ellie, the Mammoth who thinks she is the sister of the possum brothers. ****

There are "Lost Historical Student Films on the Ice Age Period," which is six shorts about ice age characters in black and white. They play off like an old time film but they use current movie clips and are full of information about their characteristics and physical features. Next up is "Scrat's Piranha Smackdown Sound Effects Lab" which is broken down to another five subcategories about sound effects. It shows the same scene five times and uses different sound effects instead of the actual sound in the movie. It's pretty funny but a bit redundant.The "Outtake Prank" is basically a blooper that the animators drew, it was really short. "Silly Sid and John Leguizamo" has the character designer and how he came up with the character Sid. He even gives an example of how to draw using basic shapes. The "Music Montage" is pretty entertaining. It is short but it shows some footage of the actors who lend their voices, along with some animation. All while playing Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby."****

John Leguizamo show his silly side in "Sloth Dancing to Sid's Sing-a-long." He breaks down the fire scene and encourages your participation in it. I of course am way to cool to participate but I am guessing any kid under eight will get a kick out of it. "Marketing the Meltdown" takes you to a couple television promos and tie ins. There is one with scrat but the rest is Sid hosting a Sunday night on Fox before the release. There is an "Ice Age Arcade" with four games to play. None of which were thrilling but the animation was fun in Sid's Soccer Challenge." There are also some Fox promos and DVD-rom features. Last up are the commentaries. There are actually two to choose from, one with just the Director, Carlos Saldanha and one with the Crew which is just too many people to list. I enjoyed the directors more only because he had more insight on the actors and the experience on the set. He was also part of the first one so it was very familiar to him. ****

There is "A first glimpse of "The Simpson's Movie" but don't get too excited, it's a very short scene in black in white in a very rough stage. It's not going to give you any idea what the movie is about and I would have preferred if they had left it off. I got very excited when i saw it was a feature but was really let down with what it offered. Last but not least is an animated short called "No time for Nuts" starring Scrat. Scrat is a loose canyon but he sure is fun to watch. It's of course about Scrat and his obsession with acorns.

Final Words: