Would
the world come to an end if I didn’t go see a movie every Friday? Not
wanting to take a chance I went to see what I thought would be the
lesser of 3 evils, “Ice Age: Continental Drift”, the other choices being
“The Watch” or “Step Up Revolution”. I had no desire to see "The Watch"
which I gathered was another film for boy-men with rude, crude penis
jokes and other R rated vulgarities while Allen had no desire to see the
dance movie "Step Up Revolution" but being the nice guy I am (LOL) I
agreed to "The Watch". Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you
look at it) Allen was late picking me up which eliminated getting to the
theatre for either movie so I picked "Ice Age: Continental Drift". Next
week there are 4 new movies opening and the following week 5, but I
have decided to test my question at the beginning of this paragraph 
when the next Friday comes along that we have to'settle' for seeing a
movie we will do something else. If the world comes to an end  on a 
Friday you will know why and who caused it!

As
it has been in the past 3 chapters “Ice Age 4”  covers the impact of
climate changing along with the importance of family. It also throws
jokes of all kinds with some aimed at pre-teens, others at teens and
some at their parents with about 50% landing with a groan but there is
that other 50%. The most spectacular aspects of animation today is just
that--the animation of the characters and the scenes and “Ice Age”
excels in the latter doing more with water, ice, the sky and the animals
than the previous 3 films. The art production team here does a first
rate job.

“Ice
Age 4” adds a lot more characters, consequently a lot more star voices
are heard, which is distracting the first half of the film as you sit in
the theatre trying to figure out who is the pirate or the love interest
for Diego and is that really Joy Behar’s voice? The distraction might
not be too bad as most of the story is familiar.

Aside
from Behar’s  voice there are the voices of Ray Romano, Queen Latifah,
Denis Leary, Patrick Stewart, Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda
Sykes and Josh Peck. For the complete list and pictures of the actors
and the characters they play be sure to stay for the end credits.

The
co-directors, Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier, use their animation
techniques to hold your interest if, and when, the story by the
screenwriters, Michael Berg and Jason Fuchs, doesn’t.

Be
sure to get to the movie house on time as before “Ice Age: Continental
Drift” there is a 5 minute charming short starring Maggie Simpson, of
The Simpsons TV cartoon show, called, “The Longest Daycare”.