Um wallpaper que fiz aqui pra minha máquina e que achei que merecia ser postado.

For those people who have watched Ice Age series of movies, this game is no stranger to them. The main character you guide in this game is Scrat. He is a saber-toothed squirrel who is mad about acorns.

The game controls are pretty easy. You have to draw lines to guide Scrat where he wants to walk. Scrat can push or pull blocks. Basically, you need to tap on the block or boulder first. To push the block, you need to tap on the right arrow. To pull or grab the block, you just need to tap on the left arrow. Scrat can also float in tar bubbles. This is helpful in navigating him underwater.

Scrat can also stomp on the ground. I believe this is useful for breaking the ice beneath him when you use the action “stomp”. Scrat can also climb the walls but I wish he can jump. I hope the developer can add in the jump action for Scrat like double jump, triple jump etc. Currently, if he drop into a pit, he cannot get out. You have to cover up the pits with numerous blocks so that he can walk onto the pit.

There are also ladders in the game to aid Scrat from getting around the environment towards his acorns. You can pile up blocks in the game to make sure Scrat is at a taller height to reach to his food. If you played Toki Tori before, the controls are similar as it is developed by the same developer Two Tribes. As Scrat moves along in his journey to find his acorns, you will see some of his friends appearing as special appearances for a while. The landscapes also changes when you walk into different places.

The other thing I wish the developers can fix is the lack of game saves in the middle of a level. Currently, the game will save the game state only after you complete that level. But if you are in the middle of the level, it won’t save your progress and you have to start all over again.

However, the game play is interesting to me as it makes me think of every step I make and if there is a chance of recourse, what steps will I take? You can restart each level when you are stuck. That is pretty nice, considering some of us here are amateur puzzle solvers.

So, what are you waiting for? Head on to iTunes and help Scrat avoid enemies, obstacles and reach out to his acorns! hehe

Check out Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on iTunes for $4.99!

Aquí un corto de la loca ardilla Scrat de la era de hielo, esta vez encontró una máquina del tiempo y con esta va a todas las épocas en busca de su nuez. Es muy divertido este video y nos muestra como por alcanzar lo que queremos podemos pasar por mil cosas sin que estas nos importen mucho.

Indigopearl is pleased to inform me that Ice Age : Dawn of the Dinosaurs game is about to hit the iTunes App Store soon. For those who are a fan of Ice Age 3, this game is a must-have especially for people who like the movie character Scrat.

Packed with chills and thrills, the game features the diehard and tormented saber-toothed squirrel, Scrat, who just can’t seem to get…hold…of…that…acorn!

Acorn-obsessed and oblivious to climatic perils faced by the rest of the movie’s characters, Scrat is as single-minded as they come: nothing will stop him from reaching his prize. That said, Mother Nature and every creature further up the food chain are inadvertently stacking the odds against him.

In Scrat’s new iPhone adventure, life is not looking any easier, but at least this time he has you to lend him a helping hand. Set across four perilous and puzzle-filled zones — including ice caves, snow, mist-filled caves, and jungle — Scrat pursues delicious acorns as players use a revolutionary on-screen control system to direct him to his goal.

Created by the award-winning developers, Two Tribes, whose previous iPhone games include the massively fun Toki Tori, and published worldwide by Chillingo, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs has been crafted to mirror the charming characters and detailed environments that captivated movie-goers when the film released earlier this year. The game will be available to download from Apple’s App Store in November 2009.

Game Features

· Alternative storyline focusing on Scrat’s journey.

· Unique touch-and-go iPhone control system.

· Scrat can climb, hang from the ceiling, shove blocks, break ice, float around, solve puzzles and much more.

· Four environments, each with its own unique gameplay.

· Features Manny, Ellie, Diego, Sid and Scratte as supporting cast.

· Many hours of playtime.

· Replay value due to collectible system.

About Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) feature film

The sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters ICE AGE and ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN are back, on an incredible adventure… and in 3-D. This time, they’re beneath the ice, discovering a world of dinosaurs.
ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS has everything audiences loved about the first two films, adding even more comedy, action, and spectacular visuals. Our beloved heroes live on, with some memorable new characters thrown into the Ice Age mix.
Also new to the Ice Age franchise is an incredible and immense underground world populated by dinosaurs. The lush world provides a sharp contrast to the wintry environs of the first two Ice Age films, and dwarfs even the vastness of the above-ground Ice Age. It’s a land of danger, massive creatures, mammal-eating plants, a daredevil weasel, a wily romantic foil for Scrat – named Scratte – and areas with names like the Chasm of Death, and the Plates of Woe. Even Manny the Mammoth – the B.M.O.C. (Big Mammal on Campus) in the Ice Age – feels puny in this immense world. “When the dinosaurs show up, Manny is no longer ‘king of the jungle,’” says comedy legend Ray Romano, who returns as the voice of filmdom’s most famous woolly mammoth.

iPhone® iTunes® and iPod touch® are trademarks of Apple Inc.

About Fox Mobile Entertainment

Fox Mobile Entertainment (FME) is the exclusive mobile licensor of all Fox Filmed Entertainment content. In addition to distributing mobile video and managing mobile video channels, FME focuses on the exploitation of Fox Filmed Entertainment intellectual property across all mobile platforms. Popular titles licensed through FME include the television properties “24,” “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy,” as well as major motion pictures such as “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”

About Chillingo

Chillingo are the publishers of popular iPhone and iPod touch titles including the award winning Zen Bound TM that won multiple awards at the recent Independent Games Festival (IGF) Mobile 2009 and the International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA). Their recent title “iDracula– Undead Awakening” zoomed up the App Store charts days after its release. For more information about Chillingo please visit http://www.chillingo.com.

About Two Tribes

Two Tribes B.V. is a privately owned company focusing on the development of games for portable devices and downloadable game services. High quality games with a strong focus on playability and presentation is what the company strives for. Since 2000 Two Tribes has been operating from their offices in the center of the Netherlands. Over the years, Two Tribes has created games for a wide range of game devices. They developed games for Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, iPhone/iPod Touch, Game Boy Advance and countless mobile phones. With the advent of downloadable game services, such as WiiWare and XBox Live Arcade, Two Tribes has entered home-console development as well. For more information, visit www.twotribes.com.

Never saw Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, but since it’s coming to home video soon (I wish I got paid for that plug), it’s time for an apropos update.

Page Schilt has mixed feelings about Ice Age 3. On one hand, it shows animals of heterogeneous gender permuting peacefully. On the other hand, it does its best to reinforce stale stereotypes, particularly masculine tropes. Here’s a bit:

In an attempt to create a compensatory family of his own, Sid appropriates a trio of dinosaur eggs. Now in nurturing mode, he begins referring to himself as “Mommy” and even–unless I’m much mistaken–using feminine pronouns.

All of this, I know, sounds really queer.

But, like so much pop culture, Ice Age 3 simultaneously subverts and reinforces sex and gender norms. All the stuff it’s dredging up from our collective cultural anxiety closet–changing gender roles, the anti-sociality of the nuclear family, alternative communities, homoeroticism–is, I would argue, kept in check by the film’s policing of traditional gender roles.

and

The utopian nature of the collective is emphasized by the subplot about heterosexual romance between two squirrels. The female squirrel, a hot femme fatale, repeatedly uses her sexual wiles to part the male squirrel from his nut (pun intended, I’m sure). After battling it out in SM foreplay for most of the movie, the squirrels briefly succumb to sexual bliss before descending into domestic hell.

It’s a good read, with some links that I’ll probably highlight individually in the future.

Ice Age 3: Can a Queer Utopia be Built on Prehistoric Gender Roles?
> Catena Ex Situ

Hello Poptropicans! Following some sad developments of this week (the resignation of Golden Eagle), it’s once again time to announce yet another Poptropica update. Recently, a new ad has appeared on Main Street of Early Poptropica, “Ice Age 3: Dawn of The Dinosaurs”. I myself saw the movie, and I thought it was pretty funny, at least at some parts. But moving on. I made a quick video to show you the ad – you can find it below. In this ad, your goal is to collect all the acorns for Scratte, Scrat’s female companion.

Before entering the ad, you’ll notice that the woman outside has horrible grammar. I’m sure most of you will easily spot it.

Please excuse the laggyness of the video!

I’d also like to mention that the PHF now has a blog (no worries, it’s not a Poptropica one) that I plan to use to post about updates to the various projects I’m working on. =D

You can find it here: http://blog.thephf.com/

Feel free to drop a comment anytime.

Aseara m-am uitat la asta :

Daca nu ai ce face si vrei sa te uiti la ceva amuzant merita vazut.

C’est en voulant prendre une photo souvenir avec le retardateur, que monsieur et madame Brandts ont été surpris de l’individus qui se trouvait aussi sur leur photo !

En effet, en entendant le bruit du retardateur un écureuil fut attiré, et voila comment il se retrouva sur une photo qui fait le tour du web !

Une page lui a été consacrée sur Facebook, et il a déjà 2000 fans!

Titolo originale: The Ice Age 3- Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Regia: Carlos Sandanha

Cast: Voci originali: Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg; Voci italiane: Claudio Bisio, Pino Insegno Leo Gullotta, Roberta Lanfranchi, Lee Ryan,  Massimo Giuliani

Distribuzione: 20th Century Fox, USA, 2009

Guarda il trailer

Il terzo capitolo della fortunatissima serie firmata Fox e Blue Sky Studios vede aria di cambiamento all’interno del branco: Ellie e Manny i due mammuth,  stanno per diventare genitori, Diego, la tigre con i denti a sciabola,  sente di aver perso lo smalto di una volta e medita di abbandonare il gruppo, Sid, il bradipo, decide di assecondare il proprio desiderio di “maternità” accudendo 3 uova di dinosauro trovate per caso. Intanto Scrat, lo scoiattolo, è sempre all’inseguimento della sua ghianda, ma questa volta sulla sua strada troverà un’affascinante quanto pericolosa e combattiva scoiattolina… Questi sono gli ingredienti di base per una nuova divertentissima avventura, condita dall’arrivo dall’ingresso di un personaggio molto particolare, il furetto Buck…

Bellissimo questo terzo capitolo della serie e  campione d’incassi un po’ dovunque nel mondo. Si tratta indubbiamente della pellicola più riuscita dell’intera serie…  Ritroviamo i nostri eroi alle prese con nuove responsabilità e grandi cambiamenti, che non tutti sono pronti ad affrontare: Diego che afferma di non essere fatto per una vita domestica e tranquilla, vuole andare via per vivere nuove avventure, Sid teme di rimanere solo e quindi decide contro il parere di tutti di tenere 3 uova di dinosauro trovate per caso. Questa sua decisione lo metterà in serio pericolo e toccherà all’intero gruppo partire per una rischiosa missione per salvarlo. Essi si ritroveranno infatti in un regno sotterraneo abitato da disonauri e faranno la conoscenza di Buck, un coraggiosissimo quanto folle furetto che si offrirà di aiutarli. Egli un po’ come il capitano Achab di Moby Dick, aspetta lo scontro con Rudy, dinosauro bianco gigantesco che terrorizza gli abitanti del regno sotterraneo, e che gli è costato un occhio ma a cui ha rotto un dente che ora utilizza come coltello.

Il film è una serie continua di battute e trovate divertentissime, soprattutto ad opera di Sid e dei due mitici opossum, “fratelli” del mammuth Ellie, ( il doppiaggio di Lee Ryan , ex cantante dei Blue ora solista, è fantastico!) semplicemente esilaranti, ma anche il nuovo arrivato, totalmente fuori di testa, non è affatto da meno. All’interno di questa avventura non poteva mancare il mitico Scrat assieme alla sua amata ghianda… Ma contrariamente agli altri capitoli, ora l’ostacolo non è rappresentato dalla natura, bensì da una bellissima scoiattolina che ha le sue stesse mire e che è disposta a tutto pur di sottrarre la ghianda a Scrat e di appropriarsene. Le risate sono assicurate anche qui. Da notare che le loro scene si svolgono sempre con  la canzone  You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine di Lou Rawls, in sottofondo,  in varie versioni a seconda del tipo di scena.

Il nostro branco preferito è cresciuto, ha messo su famiglia, ma non per questo ci sono meno risate e meno avventura. In definitiva un film d’animazione davvero esilarante. Da notare nel doppiaggio italiano, la splendida performance di Claudio Bisio nei panni Sid e di Pino Insegno in quelli di Diego, bravissimi entrambi.

Conclusione: Imperdibile.

Voto: 9

Weekendul asta am dat o fuga pana in Bucuresti. Mi-am facut hatarul si am vazut Ice Age 3D, SINGURA (Anca si Gabi au intrat la alt film unde toata sala s-a invinetit de plans; vazusera Ice Age). But it was gud. Firicelele de blanita si botul umed al lui Scrat apropiindu-se de mine :X It was totally worth it.

Desi la casa: La Ice Age (intind carnetul de student). Tanti, foarte zambareata: “60 lei” . Incep sa tremur. Reperele universului meu dispar. Aaaaaaa… 60 lei? “Da.” (Cu cata seninatatema jecmaneste creatura asta!)  Un singur bilet?! (si cu reducere!!!) “AAAAAAAaaaaaaa, unul singur? Credeam ca doriti 2.” Oh great. I know what you’re thinking now,woman. Ce deprimant, saracutaaa…. vine singura la Ice Age.

Apoi dam sa intram in sala. Doar ca filmul LOR incepea cu 15 minute mai devreme ca filmul meu. Adica io nu prea puteam intra inca in anticamera. Ma bosumflu si zic : hai, duceti-va, eu mai astept aici. Bineinteles, singuratatea mea starneste din nou compasiune. “Ok, du-te, dar mai asteapta 10 minute pe scaun inainte sa intri in sala!”

Anca imi scrie mesaj: “Si la noi in sala mai sunt persoane singure”. Fete? intreb eu. “Da”. Cand iese, recunoaste ca era vorba de o singura persoana si era mai mult baba decat fata.

Astazi, discutie cu Anca si Dan despre nume care ar trebui sa dispara de pe fata pamantului.

Gheorghe (am aflat de la Dan ca un nene a pus numele copilului Gheorghe pentru ca, atunci cand a facut certificatul de nastere, inca nu stia sigur ce sex avea odrasla. Bad intuition. A rezultat o fata transformata in Gherghina, cu buletin de Gheorghe). Puteti sa fiti sceptici in privinta asta, insa un lucru e clar. Pe strabunica lui Dan o chema BADEA.

-> Floarea

-> Sevastita

-> Paraschiva

e unul care imi sta pe limba, dar mi-e imposibil sa il scuip. Poate fac un update daca imi amintesc. Ah, lista doar incepe aici : -))

Il terzo capitolo parte svantaggiato rispetto agli altri perchè le gag e le battute sono la copia (o giù di lì) dei precedenti capitoli, infatti le vicende di Scrat (lo scoiattolo sfortunato) iniziano un pò a stufare, soprattutto perchè le scene migliori vengono già presentate nei teaser e nei trailer, cancellando del tutto un eventuale effetto sorpresa. L’entrata in scena del nuovo personaggio (Buck) è una leggera ventata di aria fresca, ma nel complesso la storia e la trama di fondo (il legame famigliare) sono solo il pretesto per inserire le miriadi di gag arzigogolate. Siamo sempre anni luce dalla Pixar, ma c’è da ammettere che gli autori non hanno intenzione di avvicinarcisi.

The theme for this contest was to take any cartoon character, from any source, and mix them into a real-world setting. I picked Scrat because he is my fav cartoon character, since the Nutty Squirrel! I didn’t win, but its good practice. Someday maybe I will, I’ll just have to keep trying.

photoshop work by Sonia G.

Scrat, the squirrel superhero of "Ice Age"

Our three whippets’ favorite part of living in New York is nearby Central Park, and the best thing in the park are the squirrels.

They are everywhere, obsessively amassing acorns like our squirrel superhero “Scrat” and also scurrying in and out of trash cans like the junk-food eating wildlife in the movie “Over the Hedge.” Once, a squirrel begging from my friend Chad got impatient and made off with an entire half of his bagel with cream cheese.  

So it is with a heavy heart that we saw dozens of squirrels lose their homes last week as 80 mile-per-hour winds ripped briefly through a corridor of Riverside and Central Parks and brought down hundreds of trees/squirrel apartment buildings.

Bob, my sister Barbara and our whippets touring the storm damage in Central Park

The damage looks like the aftermath of a hurricane or tornado, with trees toppled at their roots and branches sheared off by the ton. An estimated 500 trees are down, several of them near 100 years old. 

Bob, an arborist, used to work in Central Park and this enormous Red Oak was one of his favorite trees. We took some acorns to carry on the "bloodline."

The dogs were nearly as confused as the squirrels to see tree tops at ground level. We watched squirrels scampering through fallen trees, obviously saying to themselves, “Now, I know my nest was right here in this limb!” 

We were proud of C-Biscuit, Machu Picchu and Sesame for not trying to take advantage of the situation and squirrel-loot. (Being on leashes also helped them “make good choices,” as my sister Barbara tells her first-grade class.)

Bob, Shira, and the whippets with storm-shredded trees in Central Park

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Primeiro filme da saga. Divulgação.

(Ice Age, 2002, Chris Wedge e Carlos Saldanha)

O sucesso da animação “A Era do Gelo” não é nenhuma novidade. É nesse primeiro filme que “o bando” é formado. Manfred, o mamute emburrado, salva a vida da preguiça Sid que estava prestes a ser devorado. Eis que se deparam com o bebê “Rosinha”, alvo da cobiça do bando de tigres do qual Diego faz parte. Assim, a história já pode começar.

Sid foi ”esquecido” por sua família que foi rumo ao sul. E, como vai ser dito no segundo filme, ele vai ser a peça-chave, o responsável, por manter o grupo unido. Com seu jeito desligado, embora bastante esperto, ele é o sentimental que não se importa de mostrar seu jeito. É por sua causa que o mal humorado Manfred (apelidado por ele de Manny) embarca na aventura de devolver o bebê perdido.

Manny vivia feliz com sua família até a chegada de humanos que mataram seu pai. Com problemas de auto-estima, ele vaga solitário até encontrar Sid. É por baixo de todo aquele “pêlo que faz volume” que se esconde a verdadeira face daquele mamute: ele é puro sentimento.

O mesmo acontece com Diego. Para um tigre, é natural uma certa ferosidade, um ar ácido. E isso ele tem de sobra. Dentro de uma espécie onde é cada um por si, a primeira prova de amizade faz com que ele comece a repensar. É assim que ele se junta ao bando e vai contra seus iguais.

No primeiro filme, o trio tão diferente sai em busca dos humanos que perderam o bebê. Enquanto Manny e Sid querem devolvê-lo e precisam da ajuda de Diego para guiá-los, o tigre está levando-os para uma emboscada. Entre trapalhadas da preguiça tentando arrumar uma fêmea e planos com os tigres, eles passam por cavernas de gelo e pinturas rupestres (na qual Sid resolve “colocar as preguiças na história”). E, claro, vez ou outra a história deles se cruza com… Scrat!

Scrat, o esquilo obcecado.

Scrat é o esquilo obcecado por avelãs. Durante toda a saga é possível vê-lo tentando resgatar suas avelãs e se metendo em problemas. Ele é o típico coadjuvante que rouba a cena.

Passadas provas de amizade, tendo atigindo seus objetivos, o bando está formado. E nada é capaz de mudar isso!

Desde o primeiro filme, “A Era do Gelo” tenta ensinar às pessoas (e não necessariamente às crianças) valores como amizade, companheirismo, a importancia da família. Como a grande maioria dos filmes “infantis”, esse é mais um filme para adultos, disfarçado.   Os desenhos, a história, as gracinhas, são feitas para as crianças, mas o sentido real de tudo isso só um adulto para compreender. E, pode ter certeza, cada vez que você assistir vai encontrar um significado novo para alguma coisa que não tinha nem percebido antes.

Friendship and Family in Adventure

CLASSIFICATION           MG Mature Guidance

RATING          Three of Five Stars

Distributed by 20th Century Fox (released on 1 July 2009)

94 minutes

The Film

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a computer-animated film, and the third installment of the Ice Age series. It is written by Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman, Mike Reiss, and Yoni Brenner; and directed by Carlos Saldanha, with Michael Thurmeier as co-director.

The Preview

The Story

The film opens with Scrat (Chris Wedge), the familiar male saber-toothed squirrel in the previous two films, sniffing his way, looking for the precious acorn he had been running after since the beginning, when he came into a female saber-toothed squirrel Scratte (Karen Disher) who danced around with the ever-evasive acorn. A pulling contest ensues with Scrat getting the prize. But his sweet victory stops when he hears her crying for the lost acorn. Scrat gets smitten with her. And his softerned heart gets the better of him as he gives back the acorn to her. But her excessivepull on the acorn throws her off to the ravine to a sure death, leaving Scrat still holding the thing. With an impulse to save her, Scrat jumped into the ravine with the acorn in his hand to cushion him and Scratte from the fall. But at the middle of the drop, the wily Scratte snatches the acorn, and flew away (revealing herself as a flying squirrel), leaving Scrat to fall to his death. He didn’t die of course.

Meanwhile, Ellie (Queen Latifah) and Manny (Ray Romano), the woolly mammoth couple, except their first child while Diego, the Smilodon (Denis Leary), finds out the limits of his age when he failed to catch a gazelle who later taunted him. Facing self-doubts, Diego decides to leave the herd. Around the same time, Sid (John Leguizamo), the Sloth, finds three apparently abandoned eggs in an icy underground cavern. Despite Manny’s objection, he looks after the eggs, which hatch into Tyrannosaurus babies. He tries his best to raise them despite their threatening behavior that scares away the other young animals in the playground. It also destroys accidentally the plaything that Manny built for his upcoming baby.

When Momma, the mother Tyrannosaurus, comes looking for her young, Sid stubbornly stands the ground against Manny’s advice to let go of the three Tyrannosaurus babies. Consequently, the mother Tyrannosaurus takes Sid too, with Diego in pursuit. Manny, Ellie, and the opposums Crash (Sean William Scott) and Eddie (john Peck) follow as well.

The herd discovered an icy cavern that leads to a vast jungle populated by dinosaurs thought to be extinct. Here they meet a one-eyed, insanely-wise, weasel, named Buck (Simon Pegg) who has been living in this jungle and is chasing Rudy, a huge white Baryonyx, who took away his eye. Buck agrees to lead the herd through the jungle’s perils to Lava Falls where Momma has taken Sid and her babies.

Meanwhile, Sid and Momma are outdoing each other in feeding the offspring, with Sid losing the contest. They nonetheless welcomed him into the family. The following day, Sid gets separated from the family and Rudy attacks him. Sid gets knocked onto a loose rock slab that floats on the river of lava and about to plummet over the falls.

As the herd moves toward Lava Falls, Ellie goes into labor and a Dilong pack strikes, causing a rock to slide and separate her from Manny and Diego. Manny scrambled to protect her while Diego fends off further attacks. Buck takes Crash and Eddie ahead to rescue Sid. And just as Sid goes over the falls, the trio swoops in on a Pteranodon and saves his life. Sid is saddened for not having the chance to say goodbye to “his” children as he returns to the herd. In the  meantime, Manny reaches Ellie as she gives birth to a baby girl, which Ellie named Peaches.

Before they can exist the jungle, Rudy attacks at full force. Buck lures Rudy away from the group and is nearly eaten until Diego saves him at the last moment. Luckily, Momma arrives, who charges at Rudy and knocks him off the cliff.

As Momma and her children wish Sid well, Buck decides to join the herd to live in the surface, having lost his purpose in life with the death of Rudy. However, a distant roar indicating that Rudy is still alive changed Rudy’s mind. As the heard left, Buck sealed off the path to the underground jungle. Diego decides to stay with the herd, while Buck stays behind to battle it out with Rudy.

While all these happen, Scrat manages to save Scratte from falling to her death in the lava river while she is unconscious. The two fell in love and Scrat starts to lose his attention on the acorn. Near the end of the film, he tires of her finicky nature and reverts to his old obsession, and runs after the acorn about to fall into oblivion. With Scratte jeaouls over the acorn, a fight ensues causing a volcanic explosion under them that hurls Scrat and the acorn back to the surface, leaving Scratte trapped underground. As Scrat dances around in joy on having the acorn at last, and tauntingly raised it through the opening to show off to Scratte, a stray piece of ice falls on his hand, knocking off the acorn and back into Scratte’s hand and sealing the underground opening.

The film ends with Scrat screaming in frustration for having lost both his “love” and his acorn.

The Review

Ice Age 3: Age of the Dinosaurs is a sensitive, hilarious, animated adventure that explores the values of friendship and family all in the context of love and danger. It also managed to inject the instability of infatuation. Children and adults will find profound ideas for personal use. Here are a few of these ideas:

Friendship brings stability in relationships. Four characters are facing changing developments in their lives–Scrat finds his love interest as well as his ever-obsessing acorn; Diego discovers the limits of his physical power; Sid uncovers a new role of being an adopting parent, and; the mammoth couple (Manny and Ellie) is expecting a baby. Scrat goes through this development alone while the other characters are friends. Diego however loses heart for what he sees as a loss in himself while his friends gain something fir themselves. Diego decides to let go of his friends. Sid insists he is right and his friends are not. Manny and Ellie stay as stabling nucleus of the herd’s friendship despite the unsettling changes around them. A threat to the life of their friend Sid put them back together. Scrat however failed to gain a friend, and even lost his obsessed acorn.

Danger can refocus life from the problems to solutions. Diego’s self-pity and depression lifts up when he sees that Sid is in danger. He forgets his own problems and raced after Momma to save Sid.

A creature almost always hungers for a family. A similar thread runs through the separate lives of the characters is their hunger for their own family, and apart from a group of friends. Diego, amidst his age-related struggles, finds an emptiness that cannot be filled by his own friends. Sid sticks to create his “own” family against the advice of his friend Manny. Manny and Ellie look forward towards having their own child. And Scrat somehow dreams of starting a relationship. 

Infatuation falls in as fast as it falls out. Romantic feelings may excite imaginations and gear up emotions but between people who thinks only of their personal interests it is too fragile to develop into genuine love at times. And that what happens between Scrat and Scratte in this film. Scrat’s obsession with the acorn makes it hard for him to reign in his focus from the acorn to Scratte. Scratte’s manipulative and possessive nature creates a behavior that Scrat cannot tolerate for long. And both ended up on their own and alone–Scratte losing Scrat and certainly her life; and Scrat losing the acorn and a female of her kind that could have become a loving partner.

Even “crazy” people have something wise to say. THe herd considered Buck a crazy weasel from teh first time they met. So much for first impression then. And yet despite that “craziness” his ideas make them pull through the dangers before them in the dinosaur jungle.But when they start believing in him, they discover that this “crazy” creature too can be a good friend. 

This rich and fecund tale, told in an atmosphere of fun and adventure. Apparently, life can be enjoyed and lived to the full and be learned from at the same time. 

But its downside is something that parents and concerned adults nee to do something about explaining fact from fiction to the kids.

The Scrat-Scratte romance. This romantic tool is age-inappropriate for romanticizing love. Most viewers of these movies are kids even younger than graders. Even among high school students, most especailly in cultures not as sexually permissive as the United States, the romantic interlude can misguide these age levels into thinking that romance is what love is. This distorted view on love has lots of young victims since the age of fairy tales, and will lead teenagers today to problematci relationships later on simply because real life and genuine love is no romance at all. This sort of fairy-tale-izing the movie can make for starry eyed kids and youtsh athat are only to be disillusioned when reality inrudes inthat fantasized world as they grow older.

The Verdict

Ice Age 3: Age of the Dinosaurs is a funny animated tale with a good story to tell. Scrat though has ceased to be as funny as he used to be in the previous two Ice Age movies. But Sid remained characteristically winsome and hilarioius (e.g., drawing a face on the three Dino eggs!) and sensitive (trying to be a playful parent to the little dinosaurs). Crash and Eddie too have their funny-torious acts. And Buck, too.

The movie is great for family viewing and somehow safe for conscientious Christians but the Scrat-Scratte affair my need clear explaining form adults. Surely, tere are lots of funny scenes to laugh about. Surely, there are lots of funny scenes to laugh about.

Reviewed by Zosimo Literatus

Part of this article is also published online in Sun-Star Cebu on 22 August 2009 as “A fun story to tell“ (on 23 August 2009 in Sun-Star Cebu newspaper).  

Affiche française du film

Comédie américaine de Carlos Saldanha (L’Age de Glace, L’Age de Glace 2) et de Mike Thurmeier (Horton, en tant que directeur de l’animation, No Time For Nuts)

Scénario de Michael Berg (L’Age de Glace), Peter Ackerman (L’Age de Glace), Mike Reiss (Les Simpson: le film) et Yori Brenner (premier travail).

Sorti dans les salles françaises le 3 juillet 2009.

Durée de 1 heure 30 environ.

Avec les voix françaises de: Elie Semoun (Sid le paresseux), Gérard Lanvin (Manny le mammouth), Vincent Cassel (Diego le tigre à dents de sabre), Christophe Dechavanne (Crash l’oppossum)…

Synopsis: la joyeuse horde est sur le point de préparer un événement important: Manny et Ellie sont sur le point de devenir parents ! Sid désespère à cette idée, car lui-aussi aimerait  être papa/maman… Diego ramollit à froce de ne plus chasser très souvent, et pense qu’il va devoir quitter la horde pour retrouver sa fougue d’antan. Sid, bien décidé à fonder une horde suite à la dislocation de celle de Manny,  trouve accidentellement des oeufs et décide de les couver. Seulement, il fallait bien qu’ils éclosent… Bien sur, en attendant, Scrat court toujours après sa noisette (faut pas dire gland, c’est vulgaire), sauf que cette fois, une femelle rivale fait son apparition: Scratina ! De multiples surprises et dangers attendent notre bande d’animaux cinglés, qui vont devoir récupérer Sid, kidnappé par la maman des oeufs et emmené dans un monde perdu… Et bien sur, cette mère est une dinosaure.

Difficile de résumer en un synopsis un film aussi dingue ! Un festival de délire sur patte ! Le film s’ouvre sur des péripéties scratiennes, puis la situation initiale concernant la horde débute. Hormis Scrat, le début n’est pas franchement délirant, et se contente de poser calmement les enjeux de l’intrigue. Le film gagne cependant progressivement en humour et on retrouve rapidement la patte de la série: une animation burlesque aux petits oignons, des situations extravagantes, un humour ravageur… Et un Scrat malchanceux et hilarant, renforcé par le personnage, tout aussi comique, de Scratina ! Le scénario ose plus que ses prédécesseurs et introduit un nouveau personnage bien sympathique: Buck la belette ! Un brin fou, cet enthousiaste sait se défendre contre les puissants prédateurs… D’une durée un peu courte, on se marre bien devant cette aventure familiale. Néanmoins, comme le deuxième volet de la désormais trilogie, L’Age de Glace 3 n’a pas autant d’impact émotionnel que le premier volet, moins drôle mais auquel le spectateur s’attachait facilement au bébé humain. Ici, on ne fait que rire; pas d’anxiété, pas de larmes, que du rire, qui est cependant terriblement plus efficace que le déjà drôle premier volet.

La critique est plus courte que pour Punisher: War Zone ou que pour Yes Man, mais difficile de parler de ce film sans révéler des détails scénaristiques. Mais une chose est sûre, la Fox remonte la pente, après le superbe le décevant Dragonball: Evolution (rire étouffé de Treintafouire) et les autres films commerciaux bidons sortis de chez le Renard (qui a dit Max Payne ?).

Les notes:

-Réalisation: une 3D toujours impeccable et toujours plus détaillée que jamais, en dépit de quelques incohérences visuelles (des objets disparaissant sans raison…). 4/5

-Scénario: des lacunes parfois difficiles à digérer (certaines intrigues secondaires semblent complètement inutiles), mais des situations hilarantes et les gags de Scrat sont toujours de qualité. 3.5/5

-Performances dramatiques: difficile de juger là-dessus ! Non noté.

-Doublage vocale français: excellent comme toujours. Mention spéciale à Christophe Dechavanne, Elie Semoun et au doubleur de Buck, sans oublier le couple Scrat(ina) irrésistible ! 5/5

-Musiques et bruitages: les meilleurs musiques de la trilogie, des bruitages excellents, rien à redire. 5/5

-Les plus mieux meilleurs: Scrat et Scratina, Buck, le monde perdu, Sid, scènes marrantes, pas mal de clins d’oeil…

-Les pires pas mieux défauts:… dont un commercial, scénario limité, intrigues secondaires dispensables, film court, Diego passé au second plan…

Note globale: 17.5/20, soit… 17.5/20 !