First Things First…
I took my little sister to see this when it came out 21 years ago and I was in college, working in a movie theater part time. I’ve seen it at least a few times since then, and every time, it’s always better than I remember. And the emotional beats always sneak up on me.
4 Things I Like
4. Scrat and the Acorn
There’s not much to say about Scrat. The movie would work fine without him. He’s just funny. He provides a great kicking-off point, and him trying to gain or keep hold of that acorn is a great running gag. It’s like every 10 or 15 minutes, we get a quick break for his zany misadventures. It’s one of the more original aspects of the movie.
3. Loving the Baby
Call me sentimental, but I like how all three mammals fall in love with the baby they’re taking care of. They’ve got no reason to care about him (especially Diego, who wants him for his pack leader’s revenge, initially). Even Manny knows he’ll probably grow up into a hunter. And yet, he’s just a baby, and they each form a unique bond with him. Whether they’re playing peekaboo—including Diego’s terrifying version of the game—putting him to bed, or watching him take his first steps, there’s so much warmth in these relationships. It’s incredibly touching when they return him to his father at the end and, even after being returned to his family, he still goes back to hug his mammal friends before they say goodbye forever.
2. Manny’s Heartache
The scene with the cave drawings, where we learn Manny’s moodiness and misanthropy come from losing his partner and child to hunters, gets me every freakin’ time. The fact that even Diego—who’s still secretly working against them at this point—feels for Manny tells you all you need to know about this. And using the cave drawings to reveal this story is an inventive way to avoid an exposition dump.
1. The Herd
“That’s what you do in a herd… you look out for each other.”
Manny
Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, and Denis Leary are inspired choices to voice Manny, Sid, and Diego, respectively. Romano fits Manny’s moodiness perfectly. Leguizamo is ideal for Sid’s buffoonery. And Leary nails both Diego’s danger and his heart.
Manny and Sid are the two I can’t imagine being voiced by anybody else, but Leary probably has the hardest job since Diego changes the most during the movie, and he captures both aspects of his personality.
These three actors have tremendous chemistry, and their characters complement each other perfectly. Sid brings plenty of lightheartedness, while Manny and Diego are either not fond of company or conflicted by their job. Yet in the end, they can’t help but look out for one another.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Diego’s Change of Heart
This reminds me of the movie trope where two guys make a bet about a girl, but then one of them really falls in love with her and has to prove he’s actually changed.
Diego is obviously never going to go through with his job of bringing this baby to his pack leader so he could kill him in front of the boy’s father. And he’s obviously never going to lead Manny to slaughter. His change is inevitable.
Ultimately, I don’t dislike it because Diego is so likeable that you can’t help but root for them to all wind up as real friends. But unlike some other aspects I mentioned that are inventive and original, this is predictable and derivative.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. Future Hunter
Although the fact that the baby will likely grow up to be a hunter comes up, they never really grapple with it.
Manny lost his family to hunters, so of all of them, he has a good reason to not want to help the baby.
Of course, he’s the main protagonist, and he was always going to do the right thing. But there’s never even any hesitation over this. The only reason he doesn’t want to help the baby at first is because it’ll ruin his plans of avoiding migration and being by himself.
It might’ve required some more adult, nuanced conversations, but I think they missed a chance to get into some fascinating themes about what we owe to each other, and the morality of predators (with regard to humans and saber-toothed tigers).
Tim Matassa
