One of the longest-running animated film franchises continues. “The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild” features the return of Simon Pegg as the voice of the title, feisty weasel. This 6th installment in the “Ice Age” series premieres Friday January 28th on Disney+.
I didn’t see the first “Ice Age” (released in 2002) in theaters. I caught-up with it at home. Blue Sky Studios’ first feature is the most serious of the “IA” films. It’s also the only one to earn a Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination.
I did go see the very funny “Ice Age: The Meltdown” at a theater when it opened in March 2006. Before my showing began, a teaser trailer announcement for “The Simpsons Movie” played.
When it came to 2009’s “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” (which made nearly the exact same amount of money domestically as “Meltdown”), I actually attended a nationwide pay preview screening on a Sunday afternoon a few weeks before it officially opened. I then wrote a (positive) written review of the film and posted it on this website. About a day later I got an email from someone at FOX who said, “There’s a review embargo for the film. You need to take it down.” That’s when I first learned about review embargoes, a topic still prominent in the minds of film critics today. However, times have changed a bit. If there are public, nationwide screenings of a movie, you *usually* can post your reviews as soon as those screenings end.
I was disappointed with 2012’s “Ice Age: Continental Drift”, which was the least grossing of the four “IA” films but still 20th Century Fox’s biggest movie of 2012. The story was flat compared to the others. The most enjoyable part of that free Saturday morning screening experience: the Maggie Simpson short “The Longest Daycare” that debuted before the film (and went on to be nominated for an Oscar).
And 2016’s “Ice Age: Collision Course” was even more disappointing. The two FOX holiday specials (2011’s “A Mammoth Christmas” and 2016’s “The Great Egg-Scapade”) are much better.
So now here we are — 20 years after we were first introduced to Mammy, Sid, Diego and Scrat and the “Ice Age” brand is still going, now with a spinoff/reboot that is bound to usher-in a new generation of young fans.