All of your favorite Ice Age characters are back in the animated special Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade, which puts a prehistoric twist on the origins of the Easter Bunny.

Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) has decided to start an egg-sitting business, but the locals are all too familiar with his unlucky past, and no one is willing to trust him with their precious eggs. However a newly-migrated, stressed-out single bird mother (Taraji P. Henson, Empire) is blissfully unaware of this, and even recommends Sid’s services to her neighbors—Condor Mom (Wendy Williams), Cholly Bear (Gabriel Iglesias) and Gladys Glypto (Lili Estefan)—who all decide to leave their eggs with the unfortunate sloth.

Meanwhile, pirate bunny Squint (Seth Green, Family Guy) is back—you may recall that our prehistoric gang had smashed up his pirate ship in Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, and now he wants them to replace it. When Manny (Ray Romano) and Diego (Denis Leary) refuse, Squint sneaks into Sid’s cave as he is sleeping, takes the eggs, and hides them as ransom for his ship. Needless to say the parents are furious and nervous. So the gang, joined by Squint’s twin brother Clint (Blake Anderson, Workaholics) go on the world’s first Easter Egg Hunt to find the missing eggs—which Squint has painted to blend into the background and make them harder to find.

While all of this is going on, mischievous possums Eddie (Josh Peck, Grandfathered) and Crash (Seann William Scott) set out to make Peaches the first April Fool. And as always, Scrat continues to seek out that elusive acorn.

If you’re a fan of the Ice Age films, this is a fun, holiday-themed addition to the franchise, with all of your favorite characters and the original voice cast. I like how the writers even found several ways to weave in connections to the past films to give longtime fans something extra to enjoy.

I had previously watched/reviewed the Digital HD release via iTunes and was quite impressed by the picture and sound quality. I found this DVD release to also look quite good, with a clear, detailed picture that really makes the animation pop. The audio track is fantastic, making excellent use of the surround channels to immerse the viewer and really bring the story and action on screen to life.

While there is no Blu-ray edition of this title, the DVD release does include a Digital HD copy of the film, allowing folks to watch in HD. The disc and digital copy contain a number of bonus shorts, but unfortunately most of these are just recycled from the past DVD and Blu-ray releases of the various Ice Age films. The bonus material includes a 5 minute Scrat adventure that served as a teaser for Ice Age: The Collision Course, a 13-minute recap of the first four films, 5 Scrat animated shorts, 2 production featurettes, and 3 short faux nature documentaries.

The DVD comes packed in a standard-size white DVD case with a cardboard slipcover. Inside is an insert with the Digital Copy code/redemption instructions as well as a full color sticker sheet.

What’s Included:

Special: (22:06)

DVD:
• 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Surround Dolby Digital 2.0, French Surround Dolby Digital 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
• Closed Captioned

Digital HD (Code may not be valid after 2019):

• Digital HD copy redeemable via Google Play or Vudu (UltraViolet)
  The Vudu version of the digital copy runs 73 minutes, with most of the bonus material listed below immediately following the special.

Extras:

• Ice Age: Collision Course Cosmic Scrat-trastrophe (5:04)
  A five-minute Scrat short that served as a teaser for Ice Age: Collision Course. While chasing after an acorn, Scrat finds himself aboard a spaceship, and accidentally launches himself into space.
• Ice Age — The Story So Far (13:16)
  The major events from the first four films are edited down into 13 minutes.
• Scrat Shorts
  All of these shorts have previously appeared on the DVD/Blu-ray releases of the first four Ice Age films.
  • More Nuts for Scrat (3:56)
    Montage of scenes showing the extreme measures Scrat will go through to hold onto his acorns. (These clips are taken from the other Scrat shorts that follow.)
  • Ice Age — Continental Crack-Up
    • Part 1 (2:42)
      When Scrat plants his acorn in the ground, a massive crack forms, causing the Earth to divide into continents.
    • Part 2 (2:34)
      An adrift Scrat finds his way to land but then heads underwater where he finds a treasure map and ultimately ends up aboard a pirate ship.
  • Gone Nutty – Scrat’s Missing Adventure (4:47)
    Scrat adds another nut to his stash, but this proves to be one-too-many, and the nuts fly everywhere. Now he madly chases after them, trying to gather up his precious nuts.
  • No Time For Nuts (7:07)
    Scrat comes across a time machine and ends up on an adventure through the ages.
  • Falling For Scratte (8:30)
    In this behind-the-scenes featurette, the filmmakers talk about the character of Scrat, how he came about, and giving him love interest Scratte. Includes footage of storyboards, concept art and rough animatics, and interviews with director Carlos Saldanha, executive producer/voice of “Scrat” Chris Wedge, producer John C. Donkin, storyboard artist/voice of “Scratte” Karen Disher, character designer Peter De Sève, and senior animator (Scratte) Jeff Gabor.
  • Scrat: From Head to Toe (8:23)
    A behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to bring scrat to life. Executive producer Christopher Meledandri talks about how the character came about; character designer Peter De Sève demonstrates how to draw Scrat; furring supervisor Eric W. Maurer shows how fur is added to a 3D model; director Carlos Saldanha talks about the technological enhancements that allow the fur to be even more lifelike in the second film; and finally, head to the recording studio with executive producer/voice of “Scrat” Chris Wedge.
• Lost Footage
  Collection of black and white faux nature documentary films about various animal species (featuring the characters from the films). Select from:
  • The Sloth: “Nature’s Loveable Lisper” (2:02)
  • The Saber-Toothed Tiger: “Nature’s Fearsome Feline” (1:27)
  • The Possum: “Nature’s Spunky Spectacles” (1:26)

Final Thoughts:

Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade is a fun and entertaining holiday-themed addition to the Ice Age franchise, bringing all of your favorite characters back, with the original voice cast behind them. This fun Easter special had previously only been available in digital form, but has just been released on physical media for the first time. The DVD looks and sounds great, and the release also includes a Digital HD copy of the film. The disc contains almost an hour of bonus material, however, if you already own the first four Ice Age films on DVD or Blu-ray, then you likely already own or have seen all of this bonus material before. That said, it’s great to see a physical release of the special, and the DVD comes recommended based on the quality of special alone. This will make some fun Easter family viewing for years to come.