The fifth installment of the Ice Age film franchise once again starts with Scrat trying to obtain that elusive acorn. This time, he accidentally launches an alien spaceship into space, bumping into an asteroid, and sending a large piece hurdling towards Earth.
Back on land, Manny the Woolly Mammoth (Ray Romano) is playing hockey with daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer), who is now engaged to Julien (Adam Devine), a clumsy mammoth who knows nothing about sports. Manny is already worrying about losing his father-daughter time, and Peaches hasn’t even told him yet that she and Julien plan to move away once they get married. Meanwhile, Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) is still unlucky in love—for some reason his latest love Francine (Melissa Rauch) broke up with him for being too clingy after he proposed after one 14-minute date. And Diego (Denis Leary) and his wife are also having issues—while they’d like kids of their own, all of the young animals seem to be scared of them.
During a surprise anniversary party for Manny and Ellie (Queen Latifah), the animals notice a huge fireball hurdling towards them and run to the cave for cover. There they reunite with one-eyed weasel Buck (Simon Pegg), who tells them about the cataclysmic asteroid headed their way, but that he has a plan for how to stop it. As all of the animals start on a journey towards where the asteroid is supposed to land, they are unaware that they are being followed by a trio of dino-birds who are chasing after Buck.
Can this ragtag group of animals get to their destination in time and figure out how to stop the asteroid before it wipes out every living thing on Earth?
Ice Age: Collision Course is welcome addition to the Ice Age movies. It’s a really fun return to form that brings back all of your favorite characters while also introducing some fun new ones to the mix—I was especially thrilled to see one-eyed Buck and Granny return! Not only do we get this fun adventure with these animals, but we also get to see the main characters grow, and learn to overcome some of the obstacles in their lives—Manny learns to let his daughter go and to accept his new son-in-law, Sid finally finds love, and Diego learns he’s not as scary as he thinks. The filmmakers have also mixed in a lot of fun movie and pop culture references, such as an Armageddon-like hero shot of the animals heading to stop the asteroid.
The film has an amazing roster of voice talent, and this time around there are some great new characters including the new-age yoga instructor Shangri Llama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), beautiful sloth Brooke (Jessie J) and the family of dino-birds—controlling father Gavin (Nick Offerman), daughter Gertie (Stephanie Beatriz) and dim-witted son Roger (Max Greenfield).
The one thing that didn’t work for me was the constant interruption of the main action to cut to the adventures of Scrat and his outer space efforts to obtain the acorn. While this would be fun to watch as a separate short (which is available on this Blu-ray), the abrupt interruptions break the rhythm and flow of the main narrative—I wish his story had just been used as bookends to the main movie.
I was sent the 3D edition of this Blu-ray for review, and I couldn’t believe how amazing it looked—the filmmakers really took 3D into consideration while making this film. In addition to adding a general feeling of depth to every scene, the 3D is also used to create many fun pop-out moments—the dino-birds are constantly flying or sticking their heads out of of the screen, Buck pokes his sword at the audience, and the mammoths’ tusks sometimes pop out into your living room. The 2D picture also looks flawless, with beautiful, detailed animation, but the 3D version just makes the film even more of a delight to watch. The audio track is also excellent. It provides clear dialogue but also makes excellent use of the stereo, surround and subwoofer channels to bring the viewer into the action on screen and make the animation come alive.
This release contains a somewhat slimmer than usual, but still entertaining, collection of bonus materials. These include a 13-minute recap of the first 4 four films, the full 15-minute Scrat outer-space adventure, a 4-minute Scrat montage, two 5-minute mockumentaries, a Buck sing-along, and a fun 9-minute Q&A with Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. The discs come packed in a standard multi-disc keep case with a slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:34:32)
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Blu-ray 3D & Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French (Quebec), Portuguese
- 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
- Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Surround Dolby Digital 2.0, French Surround Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- Digital HD copy redeemable via iTunes, Google Play, or Vudu (UltraViolet)
- Bonus Digital HD copy of the original Ice Age film redeemable via iTunes, Google Play, or Vudu (UltraViolet) (Redemption Deadline 12/31/2016)
- Ice Age: The Story So Far… (13:15)
The major events from the first four films are edited down into 13 minutes. This was previously released along with the digital copy of the animated special Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade. - Scrat: Spaced Out (14:42)
Watch Scrat’s entire outer-space adventure as all of his scenes from Collision Course are edited together along with some additional footage into a single mini-movie. - Scratasia: Scrat’s Solo Adventures (4:13)
Compilation of clips from Scrat’s never-ending quest to obtain that elusive nut over the course of the five Ice Age films. - Mysteries of the Scratazons (5:13)
In this scientific documentary, the filmmakers discuss their extensive research into a race of enormous female Amazon Scrats known as the Scratazons. They recount the story of how Buck found the prophetic obelisk in an ancient ruin, which at been left there by the Scratazons. Those interviewed include director Mike Thurmeier, producer Lori Forte and co-director Galen Chu. - Star Signs of the Animal Kingdom (4:42)
In this scientific documentary, a narrator describes the constellations of the ancient animal kingdom—Scratos Squirrelius, the shrewd forrager; Sidia Slothea, the patient observer; Buckius Weaselos, the fearless protector; Possumos Twinsieus, the steadfast soldiers; and Mannius Maximus, serious sage. Basically, it’s just an introduction to the various characters in the film using clips. - The Science of It All: deGrasse Tyson deBunks (9:18)
Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson investigates the science behind the events depicted in the film. Topics include how fast Scrat’s ship would have had to be traveling to reach the moon, the age of our solar system, Jupiter’s red spot, how asteroid belts form, electrical storms, magnetic crystals, gravity, floating around in space and whether or not you could hear Scrat scream in space. - Figaro “Sing-A-Long” (1:47)
As Buck sings his own version of Figaro, words appear on the screen to allow viewers to sing along. - Gallery (1:05)
Manually step through this collection of 12 photos of production artwork, or allow the slideshow to auto-advance every five seconds. - Theatrical Trailer (2:26)
- Sneak Peek (12:56)
Play All or select from trailers for Trolls, The Book of Life, Ice Age On Ice Promotional Spot, Nine Lives, Rio 2, Epic, and Strawberry Shortcake Berry Bake Shop.
DVD:
Digital HD (Redemption Deadline 10/04/2019):
Extras:
Available on the 2D Blu-ray and DVD discs
Final Thoughts:
Recommended in General
I really enjoyed this latest installment of the Ice Age franchise. Not only does it provide another entertaining adventure, but it also provides some nice growth for the main characters. The film brings back a lot of fun characters from the previous films, and introduces some interesting new ones—the voice cast assembled for this film is amazing. The Blu-ray release looks and sounds excellent, and the 3D disc is stunning. Fans of the franchise will not be disappointed with this release, and those with the 3D playback capabilities should definitely pick up the Deluxe Edition of this title!
