Ice Age (2002) - 8/10

Watched the first Ice Age movie this morning with commentary by the director and animators and enjoyed the laid back humor this brings to get me caught up before the new Ice Age 3D comes out. The look of the film is obviously outdated compared to Pixar but I always loved Scrat and Sid the Sloth so this movie was great to revisit, especially hearing all the little details the director put in and the obstacles the animators had lighting and creating the environment. What makes this movie work is that it doesn't use the constant pop culture references but instead uses the parody of the anti-migration group of misfits and the funny situations they get in with the baby. The director talks about going against the grain of normal kids films by making the animals somewhat organic in their environment, allowing them to talk to eachother but then not let the humans speak at all, showing that it is from the creatures point of view. The voice work is great with Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, and others who bring the characters to life without too many gross out jokes. For some reason these Ice Age movies still make me smile and the commentary was great to just chill out with.