Ice Age: The Melt Down Movie Review

Ice Age II The Melt Down

The sequel Ice Age: The Meltdown is a rousing and a good follow-up to the 2002 hit Ice Age. It features fun new characters, some great gags, and more antics by Scrat. However, some scary moments and profanity jokes make it more appropriate for older kids than younger ones. Unlike the original movie, Meltdown setting aside tedious heartwarming material and lectures on life, Meltdown charges full ahead with bright gags and snappy action, making for an unexpectedly satisfying sequel.

The sequel picks up in the midst of global warming when all of the animals of the Arctic valley are forced to leave before the ice turns into a huge body of water. The trio from the first film, Manny the Mammoth (Romano), Sid the Sloth (Leguizamo), and Diego the Tiger (Leary), find themselves in a virtual water park along with their fellow beasts. However, they soon come to the realization that disaster is looming. The ice dam that keeps their valley dry is melting and threatens to wipe them all out in a flood. (I guess it's a prehistoric New Orleans.) All of the creatures head towards the other end of the valley where they have heard that there is an ark, of sorts, that can save them from the flood.

Manny's situation is particularly unique in that everyone believes he's the last of his mammoth species. Manny may be ready to start a family, but nobody has seen another mammoth for a long time. That is, until he miraculously finds Ellie, the only female mammoth left in the world. There's one little hitch  they can't stand each other and Ellie somehow thinks she's a possum! Accompanied by her two possum brothers Eddie and Crash, she refuses to believe that she's a mammoth but she joins our heroic trio for protection.

Meantime, Manny, Sid and Diego quickly learn that the warming climate has one major drawback: A huge glacial dam holding off oceans of water is about to break, threatening the entire valley. The only chance of survival lies at the other end of the valley. So our three heroes, along with Ellie, Crash and Eddie, form the most unlikely family in any "Age" as they embark on a mission across an ever-changing, increasingly dangerous landscape towards their salvation. Will they be wiped out or will there be an "Ice Age 3"? And how will Scrat inevitably save the day?

I enjoyed "Ice Age: The Meltdown" quite a bit. The film is wackier than its predecessor and features a lot less drama. This really increases the pacing of the story and allows more time for the characters to play up their strengths. While the characters from the original return true to form, a few new characters are added that fit in perfectly with the cast. Leading them is Queen Latifah as Ellie. She's funny and charming as a mammoth that thinks she's a possum. She hangs from trees and creeps around with amusing results. Accompanying her are Seann William Scott as Crash and Josh Peck as Eddie. They're kind of annoying at first, but they grow on you as the film progresses. They end up delivering some of the funnier moments of the movie.
"Ice Age: The Meltdown" has a number of great moments. Scrat returns to deliver most of them as he continues his never-ending quest for acorns. Scrat's physical comedy bits of him trying to secure acorns are some of the funniest of any animated film. Besides the antics of the possums, there's a surreal musical number where a group of vultures sing "Food, Glorious Food". It's so delightful you'll never think of the song in the same way again.
From the animation point of view, it's almost identical to its predecessor. There's little change in the characters or environments. However, they do some impressive tricks with matted, wet hair on Manny and hair floating underwater. Those pieces of animation were very well done.

Al in all, i can say that Ice Age: The Meltdown is more better than the original movie in almost all aspects. It offer us a complete movie experience as the suspense is raised with vultures, killer fish, and treacherous terrain, but there is also a sweet romance and laughs for moviegoers of all ages.

Let's Play A Game in Saw III Movie Review

Let's Play A Game in Saw III (2006)

For the third installment of the Saw series, Jigsaw is back playing vicious games with his victims, placing them in elaborate death traps and giving them difficult choices if they hope to escape.

The Saw franchise is one of the hottest horror series out there. It really brings a very distinct psychological twist themes for which the genre is known, and yet also features the exciting "gorific" moments with the unique traps that lead "villain" Jigsaw creates. Saw III delivers a full on horrific excitement and energy from its very first scene to its jaw-dropping conclusion. It is undoubtedly shines with some of the most capable and incredible filmmaking ever seen from director Darren Lynn Bousman. IMO Saw III is the best horror film of 2006.

Saw III picks up immediately following Saw II at a very swift pace. Donnie Wahlberg's Detective Eric Walters is still chained up in the basement bathroom but taking extreme measures to escape, while his former partner (Dina Meyer) is trying to find him. Instead, she locates the scattered remains of Jigsaw's latest victim before falling herself as prey to one of his deathtraps. While on the otherhand Jigsaw is dying, his time is growing short, but there is still time enough for one more game.

This game will be a little different though as it's not Jigsaw pulling the strings but Amanda, his young apprentice. Amanda sets things in play for one last go round but this one has the highest stakes of all. While city detectives scramble to locate Jigsaw, Dr. Lynn Denlon is unaware that she is about to become the latest pawn on his vicious chessboard. One night, after finishing a shift at her hospital, Lynn is kidnapped and taken to an abandoned warehouse where she meets Jigsaw, bedridden and on the verge of death. She is told that she must keep the madman alive for as long as it takes another one of his victims, Jeff, to complete a game of his own. Racing against the ticking clock of Jigsaw's own heartbeat, Lynn and Jeff struggle to make it through each of their vicious tests, unaware that he has a much bigger plan for both of them.

Saw III is definitely the best of the three films. With tighter direction, a better story, and a rely less on clever murders and more on characters, this is strong film. The deathtraps and set pieces have gotten even more extravagant and gory than the last two movies with things that will make even those with the strongest stomachs wince, grimace or look away.

The best part about these franchise, and in Saw III especially, is Jigsaw. Jigsaw isn't some killer with no motive. He has a motive: appreciate your life. The fact that Jigsaw is a cancer patient on his deathbed, rather than some huge monstrous beast, he gives the audience psychological tension that we haven't seen before. Jigsaw has to be one of the most evil and morbid villains to appear on screen, but even with those factors taken into consideration it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him. How Bousman is able to turn the tables on us like that is a great achievement.