Captain Gutt: Surrender your ship or face my fury!
Sid: Or face your furry what?
Captain Gutt: Not furry, fury!

The fourth film of the Ice Age franchise starts with Scrat once again trying to obtain the elusive acorn. This time, he falls into the Earth’s core and sets the Earth’s continental drift in motion.

Back on land, Manny the Woolly Mammoth (Ray Romano) is looking for his daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer), who is now a teenager and has run off to hang out with her friends. Peaches has a crush on mammoth Ethan (Drake), but is oblivious to the fact that her best friend, molehog Louis (Josh Gad) is in love with her. Manny is worried his daughter is growing up too fast and doesn’t want her involved with boys just yet (or ever). Peaches resents her dad’s overprotective behavior.

Nearby, Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) is overjoyed when his family suddenly returns (a callback to the first Ice Age film!). However, this excitement is short-lived when Sid discovers that they only showed up long enough to dump his crazy old grandmother (Wanda Sykes) into his care before disappearing again.

Meanwhile, the ground starts to shake and split, and our prehistoric heroes’ homeland starts to crumble. As all of the animals are scrambling, Manny, Diego (Denis Leary) and Sid find themselves on the opposite side of a huge crevasse, separated from the rest of the Manny’s family. They now need to find a way to get back to the rest of the group. And so begins their adventure to try to rejoin the others, and in the process they encounter a giant crab, pirates, sirens and more—even a love interest for Diego!

I did not find this film as successful as the past Ice Age movies. The writing seemed somewhat lazy and predictable at times. There didn’t seem to be much of a flow or story, just some separate (over-used) tropes—such as a father/daughter fight, two characters think they hate each other but are really in love, pirates, and Homer’s Odyssey.

The whole Peaches/Manny story-line did not work for me. The dialogue between her and her father was so generic and unoriginal. I have heard some of the same lines in dozens of other films. Also, the girls in the so-called cool crowd Peaches was trying to fit in with (voiced by Nicki Minaj & Heather Morris) sounded like members of the Jersey Shore. And at one point Peaches (a woolly mammoth) is hanging upside-down from a tree when she is interrupted and explains that she’s half-possum. If that’s really the case, then Manny’s wife has some explaining to do!

Another thing that didn’t work for me was the constant interruption of the main action to cut to the adventures of Scrat in his Wyle E. Coyote-like effort to obtain the acorn. These abrupt interruptions for an unrelated side plot breaks your concentration and felt unnecessary. I would rather they just put a separate 10 minute Scrat short on the disc than to try and shoehorn him into the movie.

There are a lot of talented, funny actors comprising the pirate crew but overall it just fell a bit flat for me. The crew is led by prehistoric ape Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage), and includes rabbit Squint (Aziz Ansari), kangaroo Raz (Rebel Wilson), elephant seal Flynn (Nick Frost), badger Gupta (Kunal Nayyar) and bird Silas (Alain Chabat). With a cast like that it should have been great. I’m not saying there weren’t scenes and moments that had me laughing out loud, because there were many. However, I found myself wishing we could have just see more of Ice Age 3’s one-eyed Buck (Simon Pegg) instead of these pirates.

I also really enjoyed all of the scenes with Sid and his Granny. Sid has always been my favorite character, and is the source of a lot of the best humor in the film. I really liked how his storyline linked back to the original film. I just wish his family had had more screen time—I would have really enjoyed a film that just concentrated on Sid and his family!

While I found the film a bit disappointing, the Blu-ray itself was far from it. The film looks and sounds amazing, and there are loads of special features. I found the many behind-the-scenes featurettes really interesting. The main thing that was missing was the Maggie Simpson short that aired with Ice Age 4 during its theatrical release.

Overall, I can’t recommend a blind buy of this title for adults. Though die-hard fans of the franchise and younger audiences will probably find it a lot of fun, and I suspect the film may grow on me if I were to watch it a few more times.

What’s Included:

Film (1:27:48)
Blu-ray:

• 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HD MA, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1, French DD 5.1
• English SDH, Spanish subtitles

DVD:

• 480p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• Audio: English DD 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Surround DD 2.0, French Surround DD 2.0
• English SDH, Spanish subtitles

Digital Copy/Ultraviolet:

• iTunes Digital Copy
• Ultraviolet Digital Copy (Vudu or Flixster)

Extras:

• Party with a Pirate! Mode
  If enabled, pirate rabbit Squint (Aziz Anasari) will pop up on the screen occasionally during the film. Don’t really see the need for this.
• Enhanced Experience with the Ice Age Pirate Picasso Coloring App
  When special images appear on the screen, viewers can point their iOS/Android device’s camera at the screen. The character will leap into the app and be available for coloring.
• Sign Along
  When enabled, two young deaf actors (Amber Zion and Switch at Birth‘s Sean Berdy) prvide and interpretation of the film in the bottom corner of the screen.
• Ice Age: The Story So Far (9:29)
  Recap of the first three films for those who haven’t seen them or need a refresher.
• Missing Links (1:46)
  Two short deleted scenes presented in black and white rough animation. The first, “Dr. Granny” (:53), involves the main characters while the second, “Shell Game” (:59), is another one of Scrat’s side adventures.
• Through a Pirate’s Spyglass (25:57)
  Two behind-the-scenes featurettes. In the first, “Voices Ahoy!” (11:22), the actors behind the voices talk about their characters and how they researched their roles and came up with the voices. These actors include Aziz Ansari, Alain Chabat, Peter Dinklage, Nick Frost, Denis Leary, Kunal Nayyar, and Rebel Wilson.
  In the second, “Capturing the Crew!” (14:42), the screenwriters, animators and producers talk about how they worked the pirates into the story and how they designed the animals to give them a pirate look.
• Granny and the Stink of the Sloths (9:12)
  Behind-the-scenes featurette where the cast and crew talk about Sid’s family and how their return harkens back to the original Ice Age film.
• Whale of a Tale: Drifts, Rifts, Beasties and Myths (24:05)
  Three more behind-the-scenes featurettes. In the first, “Drifts and Rifts” (7:50), the creators talk about the scientific accuracy (or lack thereof) of the continental drift as depicted in the film. In the second, “Beasties” (8:06), the creators talk about the artistic liberties taken with some of the character designs. And in the third, “Myths” (8:20), the creators talk about how they worked some of the myths from Homer’s Odyssey into the film.
• Scrat Got Your Tongue? (7:04)
  The creators talk about the character of Scrat and how he came about. They also talk about how he conveys so many emotions without speaking any words.
• The Scratist (2:11)
  Ad for Ice Age 4: Continental Drift done in black and white silent film style.
• Shimmy Shake Music Section (10:53)
  A collection of music videos, including “Gutt’s Sing-a-Long Shanty Shimmy Shake”, “We Are” Extended Music Video, “Chasing the Sun” by The Wanted, and “The Sid Shuffle”.
• Theatrical Trailers (4:44)
  Two theatrical trailers for the film.
• Sneak Peek (6:36)
  Trailers for “Epic”, “The Blu-ray Experience”, “Family 3D Trailer, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days”, and “Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas”
• Live Extras (6:36)
  Additional extras via BD Live. At the tme of this review, there was one item not already on the disc itself: “Designing The Ice Age World”—another behind-the-scenes featurette similar to the content already covered by those on the disc.

Final Thoughts:

The audio and picture are excellent on this Blu-ray release. The 7.1 DTS MA sound really immerses the viewer in the world, and the picture is pristine and perfect.

This is one jam-packed Blu-ray! There are so many interesting behind-the-scenes featurettes, a couple deleted scenes and a whole lot more. If there was one thing missing I would say it’s an audio commentary. However, with over four hours of extras, I’m more than pleased with what they have provided. Though, I do wish they had included the Maggie Simpson “The Longest Daycare” short that played before the film when it was released theatrically.

That said, for die-hard fans of the franchise this Blu-ray is an easy recommendation. For those new to the franchise, it may be worth a rental first, especially for adults, but I think kids would really enjoy it.