Entertainment

Ice Age: The Meltdown

B

Starring the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah and Jay Leno. Directed by Carlos Saldanha. PG (mild language). 90 mins. $29.98

PLAYING IT COOL: This popular sequel loses the element of surprise of the first, in which a scrappy new company boldly went where no recent animated film has gone – the Ice Age. It tries to compensate by giving us more in terms of the main characters finding themselves. The fact that this, too, was a hit was in no small part due to the sparkling animation and winning performances by very funny people. But it doesn't match the wonder of the audience finding them for the first time.

MAMMOTH LOVE: Manny the Mammoth (Ray Romano) thinks he's the last mammoth until he finds Ellie (Queen Latifah), a mammoth brought up by possums to think she, too, is a possum. Meanwhile, silly Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) wants respect and brave Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) is trying to hide his fear of water. It's pretty obvious where it's going, but, with the help of a Looney Tunes-like saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat, the journey is pretty entertaining.

BEST EXTRA: Watching Scrat go for his eternally elusive acorn in the "No Time for Nuts" Scrat short.

BOTTOM LINE: Good for more than a few laughs.

Nancy Churnin