Yeah, never thought I would be doing more reviews of the Ice Age films, but here we are. Since the last review I did, Blue Sky became part of Disney following their purchase of various Fox assets. But during the pandemic, they were eventually shut down with Disney acquiring all their IPs including Ice Age. The Ice Age films have been a hit or miss for me. I really enjoyed the first one and felt the first two sequels were fine. Never understood why the film ever needed sequels, and I didn't really enjoy the fourth film. But now we are here with the last film that Blue Sky themselves made and the first film that Disney made themselves since Blue Sky shut down (though we would later learn that some animation studio outside of Disney would end up making the spin-off film). So got low expectations for both films, but let's take a look anyway:
Collision Course
Some time has passed since the fourth film and Manny (reprised by Ray Romano) and his wife Ellie (reprised by Queen Latifah) are preparing for their daughter Peaches (reprised by Kate Palmer) and her clumsy but sweet boyfriend Julian (voiced by Adam DeVine) to get married. Manny like most fathers, isn't too sure of the idea, but attempts to get to know Julian and the urging of his daughter Peaches. But when Scrat (reprised by Chris Wedge) has some adventures with a UFO, his actions cause the world to experience some changes and impending doom. To save the planet, the herd reunite with Buck (reprised by Simon Pegg) and go on a quest to save their planet and a wedding too. Honestly, even with Buck back, this film continues to show that Ice Age is quite literally running on thin ice. One idea after another and it's still getting sequels that are not needed. Scrat is hilarious as always, but all I ask is that Disney just put the franchise to bed. No one asked for all these sequels. One film was enough (though I still found 2 and 3 to be alright). 6/10
The Adventures of Buck Wild
The first Ice Age film not to be made by Blue Sky and not Disney either (despite being distributed by the latter). Instead, Bardel Entertainment (who previously worked with Disney on the Diary of a Wimpy Kid reboot) took charge of the animation and all I can say is that it looks more like a film made for TV than a big budget Ice Age film. Not saying what they do is bad, just think it could be better (though it does kind of remind me of those Disney sequels that have no reason to exist, but do because they were at the time desperate). Anyway, let's talk about the story. The herd enjoy having a summer home, only for it to be destroyed by Crash and Eddie (this time voiced by Vincent Tong and Aaron Harris respectively) with an avalanche. The two possums then leave the Herd and come across the Lost World again, where they go on an adventure with Buck (reprised by Pegg and the only actor from the films to return) while figuring out if they want to join him or return to the herd in the wake of a new threat to the Lost World. Animation compared to all the other films and even the short films is not great. I also struggle to figure out where the titles of some recent Disney films are often misleading. In the Toy Story and Frozen sequels, they should've been called something else because yes the characters are all there, but feels like the films are more focused on one character over the others. In the case of this film, it feels like the opposite. It does have Buck in it, but he's not the main focus despite it being in the name which I find odd. I also am quite cross that they didn't bother to invite the rest of the main cast back and for an Ice Age film to not include Scrat who has consistently been in all the films up to this point, there is just no excuse for it. Yeah, not liking this film at all. 4/10
Yeah, two sequels, not worth bothering with. They are not great, but at least with Collision Course, it feels like a Blue Sky film. Whereas the other one just looks like a compilation of episodes of a TV show bought all together with nothing really going for it. Hopefully no more Ice Age films, but if there are more on the way, they got to be better than these for sure. Especially if you want to keep the franchise alive, Disney. 5/10
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