Ice Age 3

It has something to it again. The creation of a family and how it all goes wrong, friendships that probably end. There are moments that will hit you if you love the series, but in neither case is it groundbreaking. The environment with the dinosaurs is great and visually really beautiful. Some jokes will make you laugh out loud. (24/03/2015)

The recipe behind the success of this series was never to go deep like Pixar movies, but to present the youngest viewers with an adventure full of episodic humor and funny animals. This instalment sticks to this recipe: the exotic dinosaur environment provides ample space for a load of rope-climbing, jumping and flying action, while the dinosaurs can be both cute (Tyrannosaurus cubs) and scary (Velociraptors, Spinosaurus) and, above all, they are filmed with familiar Spielberg-like optics (the only thing that’s missing when the big T- Rex lets out the final shriek is a billboard spelling out “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth”). Add the pirate Jack “Buck” Sparrow as our protagonists’ guide through the dinosaur world... what more can you offer to the child viewers of today? (30/06/2009)

Kids must be jumping for joy; I’m happy for them. The creators have carried on with never-ending falling and chase scenes. But I didn’t expect anything different. They’ve earned a fortune on it, I’m happy for them. But it’s over the line if you leave the humor out of Scratch’s escapades; you’d better not ask me what I would do to the authors for it. The only positive side of the third Ice Age is Pegg’s Buck who seems like he came out of a completely different animated movie. An animated with a slightly more mature character which I would enjoy maybe more than first-graders. Can’t have those little beggars hogging every single animated movie for themselves, now, can we? (27/09/2009)

Ice Age 3 retains the same target audience as its predecessors: children up to 12 years old, who will most appreciate the old-fashioned wacky characters, episodic humour based on funny voice acting and dynamic action, and the depiction of basic family and moral values. What is new, however, is the creative dinosaur setting, which brings a welcome visual boost to the series, and the storyline is fantastic compared to the more verbose previous installments. We witness a totally unsurprising development, but that was never the point in the first place, and secondly we have a damn cool character in the form of the guide Buck, who just steals the film for himself and throws much of the responsibility off the shoulders of the traditionally great Scrat. Given the ambition and the premise, it really couldn't have turned out better, my child self is screaming with pleasure. (18/04/2011)

Childishly infantile fun, which isn't really original, but unlike the previous film, it entertains solidly. There are many things that can be criticized about this film, but it’s only done by those who don’t see that there are cubs running around and that awareness of family relations is being addressed. Thumbs up for Pegg's Buck. (09/08/2009)