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directed by Chris Wedge; (2002)
Review by
Film Rating:
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Does it seem to you that traditional 2D animation is dying?
As a 2D-trained animator, I have hopes that the traditional industry will make a comeback, but the creativity and innovation seen in the latest computer animated features explains the disparity. We see the same old storylines, musical numbers, and character designs coming out of Disney and DreamWorks, while their 3D partners -- Pixar and Pacific Data Images -- give us movies like Monsters, Inc. and Shrek. Perhaps the "new frontier" of computer animation has made Hollywood producers more willing to take a chance on original stories.
New York-based Blue Sky Studios has opened that frontier a little bit further with their first feature film. Ice Age does not mimic the cheeky humor of Shrek or the cheery colors and bounciness of Pixar films; rather than formulate characters to fit a story, they appear to have created an adventure around characters. There were no cliche roles for the protagonists. While Pixar might have invented a jolly fat mammoth or a simpleton strong-boy mammoth, Blue Sky created a stoic mammoth who is walking away from loss and pain. His reaction when confronted with something that induced painful nostalgia was to stand stock still and wide-eyed. Anything else, I think, would have been an overreaction for such a character, yet most studios would have substituted that animal reaction with a more human (and more predictable) one. By deliberate contrast, the most farcical of the characters -- the sloth -- was also the most human-like. He even walked upright. Granted, most studios would portray an Ice Age sloth as a not-very-bright creature, but would they go so far as to give a talking animal a human speech impediment?
There was an attention to below-the-surface detail in Ice Age that I find lacking in some other 3D films. The sabertooth squirrel was animated quick and squirrel-like while the mammoth moved slowly and deliberately. The animals had muscles beneath their fur. The luminescence and wetness of the ice was a work of art. It was refreshing to watch a film unfold at a sane pace, after so many Hollywood films try to outdo each other with sushi chef editing (cut! cut! cut!) and one-second scenes. Ice Age did not attempt to overwhelm the audience with sights, sounds, and special FX in order to hide a lame story. And while the film was light-hearted and funny, there was an undercurrent of seriousness lacking in many animated films. Yes, it's still a kiddie movie, but it's one that adults can enjoy too.
One more thing I have to add: Give this film an "A" for originality in non-bloody deaths! There were a number of deaths, and a number of falling-over-cliff-scenes, but not once did a bad guy plunge to his death over a cliff (as happens in many a Disney movie).
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All material Copyright © 2024 Abby Goldsmith, except where otherwise noted. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or reprinted without prior written permission from the author. Document updated: 05 September 2016 - 17:39:40 |