Ice Age

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So, a woolly mammoth, an Ice Age sloth, and a saber-toothed cat walk into a bar . . . .

Well, not exactly, but I could picture director Chris Wedge trying to pitch this idea to the folks at Fox. Not only do you have a predator and two vegetarians forming a makeshift "herd," but you also have a vulnerable human thrown into the mix, along with an Ice Age squirrel who has practically nothing to do with the plot except for adding more comic relief. Set it all on a bleak, blanched landscape, and it could have been an impossibly tough sell. But "Ice Age" works . . . and surprisingly well.

Like "The Jungle Book," this animated film tells the story of a group of animals who find a human baby. They grow attached to it, but realize that it belongs with its own kind and they try to return it. The counter-plot is that as these three animals trek closer to the band of hunters they're trailing, their sneering and snarling saber-toothed guide, Diego (Denis Leary), is really an infiltrator who's leading them into a trap so the rest of his pride can feast. Or can he be turned around?

As in "Shrek," the main character here is a powerful and gruff loner who's joined by a fast-talking tag-along--though he doesn't particularly want a sidekick, especially this one. Manny (Ray Romano) is the surly mammoth who appears to be the last of his species. While herds of all kinds are fleeing in one direction because of global warming, he symbolically goes against the flow. Joining him is a non-stop chatterbox named Sid (John Leguizamo) who seems to have more the metabolism of a hummingbird than the lisping sloth that he is. Then there's that predatory cat that neither of them trusts. But Diego's tracking sense is the only hope they have of catching up to the hunters before they get too far, or so the big cat says, in order to wheedle his way into the group.

While "Shrek" is a film that can make parents cringe at some of the humor, this one is tame by comparison, with less than a handful of bathroom jokes and nothing terribly sexual. It could have been G-rated, in fact, were it not for "mild peril." The most traumatic event comes early, when a pride of prehistoric cats attacks a village of humans and chases down a mother and her child. Though she evades the pride by leaping into the river, the mother slips under the water and drowns after pushing her child onto the riverbank where Manny and Sid happen to be waiting.

That's not the only poignant moment. For an animated comedy, "Ice Age" has a pretty warm heart and comes complete with a number of good messages, like you don't always have to follow the herd, and when you are in a herd (translation: family) you need to pull your weight and help each other out. Diego is a screw-up, Sid's a loser, and Manny's a loner, but we--and I'm including adults here, because "Ice Age" isn't just for children--watch with interest as this trio of misfits learns to trust and depend upon each other.

More than "Shrek" and the wise-guy school of comedy, "Ice Age" owes a debt to the old Warner Brothers cartoons, especially the Road Runner entries, because it incorporates the same type of madcap physical and character comedy. Running gags abound, like a saber-toothed cat trying to play peek-a-boo with a baby, and the lines themselves are as full of deadpan as some of the best Bugs Bunny cartoons. How about a little Darwinian humor, as when some of the female animals complain about how difficult it is to find a good mate: "All of the sensitive ones get eaten." More Darwinian humor as we see how the dodo bird became extinct--apparently all because of a squabble over watermelons.

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