Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a 2009 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by Carlos Saldanha. The film is a sequel to Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and the third installment of the Ice Age franchise. The film focuses on Sid finding three T-Rex eggs and takes them with him believing that their mother abandoned them but he's proven wrong when their mother comes to take them back and kidnaps him. To save him, Manny, Ellie, Diego, Crash and Eddie discover an underground world where the dinosaurs survived the asteroid and they have to team up with a crazy one-eyed adventurer weasel named Buck to save Sid from Momma T-Rex before it's too late while Scrat tries to get his acorn back from a beautiful female squirrel named Scratte. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Chris Wedge, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck reprises their roles with Simon Pegg and Karen Disher joining them voicing Buck and Scratte respectively. Different from the first two movies, this movie focuses mainly on Sid giving his character more depth and exploration.
Synopsis[]
Two years after the events of Ice Age: The Meltdown, Scrat finds a new acorn and tries to grab it only to find a possible romance in a female sabertooth flying squirrel named Scratte. However the two becomes rivals as they both want the acorn.
Scrat now is searching for a new acorn and he founds it. He tried to grab it only to find a possible romance in a female saber-toothed squirrel named Scratte.
Meanwhile, Manny and his new wife Ellie are expecting a baby, which leaves Manny anxious to ensure that everything is perfect for when his baby arrives.
Diego is fed up with being treated like a house-cat and ponders the notion that he is becoming too laid-back.
He eventually leaves the herd.
Sid begins to wish for a family of his own, and so steals some dinosaur eggs which leads to Sid ending up in an underground world where dinosaurs roam free, and where his herd must rescue him, while dodging dinosaurs and facing danger left and right, and meeting up with a weasel known as Buck who hunts dinosaurs intently and has a mammal chauvinism.
Plot[]
Scrat is searching for a new acorn and he finally founds it but when he arrives to the point where the acorn is someone steals it. He soon discovers that the thief is a beautiful female squirrel named Scratte. He tries to share his acorn with her but they start fighting and Scratte falls forcing Scrat to jump to save her. However, Scratte reveals to have tricked him into jumping to get the acorn as she's actually a flying squirrel and as she flies away Scrat falls despite surviving the fall.
Ellie and Manny are expecting their first child, and Manny is obsessed with making life perfect and safe for the family.
He is shown bringing a shell full of water to Ellie believing that she is giving birth, although this is just a false alarm.
At the same time, Diego finds himself unable to catch an antelope he has been stalking as the antelope starts to taunt him.
Believing that he is losing his predatory nature as a tiger, he decides to leave the herd after a talk with Manny. Sid grows jealous of Manny and Ellie and three apparently abandoned eggs that he finds in an icy underground cavern. Meanwhile, Scrat and Scratte fights again for the acorn and they finish trapped in some bubbles where Scrat defeats her and catches the acorn but he finishes in the underground world alongside his beloved acorn after the bubble pops.
Manny tells him to put them back, but Sid instead looks after the eggs, which hatch into baby Tyrannosaurus the next morning.
Although Sid tries his best to raise the three dinosaurs, their rambunctious behavior scares away all the other animals’ young and ruins a playground Manny built for Ellie’s baby.
The mother dinosaur soon returns and carries both Sid and her youth underground, with Diego in pursuit. Manny, Ellie, Crash, and Eddie follow as well and discover that the icy cavern leads to a vast jungle populated by dinosaurs thought to be extinct.
Here, an Ankylosaurus threatens the herd despite Diego’s efforts to fend it off; they are saved from a further crowd of angry reptiles by a one-eyed, slightly crazed weasel named Buckminster, or Buck.
Buck has been living in this jungle for some time and chasing Rudy, intending to avenge the eye he lost to it. Some where close to them, Scrat is stuck on a tree due to the liquid of the bubble and successfully tries to catch the acorn as it finishes stuck to his chest, however Scratte pulls the acorn away from his chest with force removing the fur from it which makes Scrat scream from pain (which is also heard by Crash and Eddie).
He agrees to lead the herd through the jungle’s perils to Lava Falls, where has taken Sid and her babies.
Soon journeying in the jungle, Manny and Diego are captured by a carnivorous plant, but thanks to Buck, they are freed.
The herd travels across the chasm of death.
In the meantime, Sid and the mother try to outdo each other in feeding the offspring; he loses this contest, but is soon welcomed into the family regardless.
That night, while the herd was resting Manny had a nightmare of Ellie alone in a jungle and being killed by Rudy.
After he wakes up, Ellie was still sleeping; however, she woke up, too, and Manny explains to her about his nightmare.
Because Ellie was in the nightmare, she explains the most dangerous place in the world is bigger than her and Manny.
Buck hears that if Manny was nicer to Sid, they wouldn't be searching for him but Back says that he's risking his life and his kid to save his friend and that makes him a good friend. Meanwhile Scrat and Scratte dances tango while both trying to catch the acorn and it ends with Scrat holding a bridge and trying to prevent him, Scratte and the acorn from falling in the lava. He successfully saves Scratte and catches the acorn but Scratte falls in his arms and they fall in love with each other sharing a kiss.
says that Manngood y risked his own life and his unborn baby.
hat makes Manny a friend and a hero.
The next day, Rudy attacks the family and chases Sid which is stuck in a piece of land on an ocean of lava.
Rudy attacks the family and Sid is knocked onto a loose rock slab that is floating on a river of lava and about to plummet over the falls.
As the herd moves toward Lava Falls, Ellie goes into labor and a Guanlong pack strikes, causing a rock slide that separates her from Manny and Diego.
Manny doubles back to protect her and Diego fends off further attacks.
Buck takes Crash and Eddie ahead to rescue Sid riding a pteranodon over to lava falls but are attacked by a group of Quetzalcoatluses.
The flock forces Buck to detour, where Crash and Eddie then fend off the predators before heading to back Sid.
Just as the sloth goes over the falls, the trio swoops in and saves his life.
Manny reaches Ellie just as their baby is born.
A girl they decide to name Peaches.
After, the whole herd is reunited with Buck and the rest flying back from lava falls.
Sid is saddened at the fact that he never had a chance to say goodbye to children as he is reunited with the herd.
Before they can exit the jungle, Rudy attacks at full force; Buck helps the others ensnare him briefly, but he escapes and resumes his onslaught.
The herd is saved by the timely arrival of Momma, who charges at Rudy and knocks him off a cliff.
As she and her children wish Sid well, Buck – now without a purpose in life since Rudy is gone – decides to join the herd and live on the surface.
However, a distant roar tells him that Rudy is still alive.
Buck changes his mind and sends the herd home, he destroys the path to the underground jungle at the same time so that no one can go down there.
Manny and Ellie welcome Peaches into their frozen world and admit that Sid did a good job looking after Momma's children.
Diego decides to remain with the herd, while Buck stays where he wants to be: underground, matching wits with Rudy.
The herd is back on the surface and Peaches starts to play with her uncles Crash and Eddie and the snow with Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie watching happily as the future never looked more bright. Plus Manny rebuilded the family crystals photo this time adding Sid, Diego, Crash, Eddie and even Buck to the picture.
Meanwhile Buck is roading Rudy, much to the latter's dismay and frustration while Scrat and Scratte are now married. However, Scratte starts to act bossy towards Scrat and he chooses to come back to his acorn which turns Scratte angry as she starts to attack the acorn with Scrat trying to stop her. This causes a rock to blow up and to take them to the surface. While they're flying, Scratte tries to trick Scrat with her beauty again but Scrat, having learn from his mistake, gives her an eye blink like she did to him when she left him falling and pulls the acorn away from her making her fall and impeding her to come to the surface with him which makes Scratte trapped in the Dinosaur World. Scrat comes back to the surface and has his acorn again but he loses it again when the ice block falls back which makes him scream in frustration.
- Spoilers end here.
His efforts are complicated by the presence of Scratte, a female of his species, with whom he is instantly smitten. Scratte outsmarts him a number of times, once by demonstrating her ability to glide like a flying squirrel, but the two eventually fall in love after Scrat saves her from falling to her death in the lava river.He even chooses to focus his attention on her instead of the acorn until the end of the film, when he tires of her finicky nature and reverts to his old ways.The ensuing fight between the couple leads to a volcanic explosion that hurls Scrat and the acorn back to the surface, leaving Scratte trapped underground. As Scrat is about to enjoy his acorn, though, a stray piece of ice falls on him and knocks it back into Scratte’s hands.
Voice cast[]
- Ray Romano as Manny, a woolly mammoth and the leader of The Herd and Ellie's husband.
- John Leguizamo as Sid, a giant ground sloth and the founder of The Herd
- Denis Leary as Diego, a saber tooth tiger and a member of The Herd.
- Seann William Scott as Crash, an opossum, Eddie's biological brother and Ellie's adoptive brother.
- Josh Peck as Eddie, an opossum, Crash's biological brother and Ellie's adoptive brother.
- Queen Latifah as Ellie, a female woolly mammoth, Manny's wife, and Crash and Eddie's adoptive sister.
- Simon Pegg as Buck, a one-eyed weasel and a dinosaur hunter who joins The Herd.
- Chris Wedge as Scrat, a saber-toothed squirrel.
- Karen Disher as Scratte, a female saber-toothed squirrel and Scrat's love interest.
- Bill Hader as Gazelle
- Joey King as Beaver Girl
- Jane Lynch as Diatryma Mom
- Kristen Wiig as Pudgy Beaver Mom
- Carlos Saldanha as Dinosaur Babies / Flightless Bird
- Eunice Cho as Madison (Diatryma Girl)
- Maile Flanagan as Aardvark Mom
- Clea Lewis as Start Mom
Development[]
Rumors about a third Ice Age film started when Ice Age: The Meltdown's DVD said in the director commentaries that there was probably going to be made a third movie called. It wasn't until January 30, 2007 when Fox president Hutch Parker, based on the box office success of Ice Age: The Meltdown, announced and approved a third film.
The movie is considered to be the biggest blockbuster this summer, with only Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince rivaling it.
Blue Sky decided to do in the third Ice Age installment, and added the dinosaurs to the story.
Character designer Peter de Sève welcomed the new plot addition, since he could not think of any other giant mammal to put into the story.
The approach led to colorful dinosaurs, because, according to de Sève. Rudy's design was inspired by the Baryonyx because of his crocodile-like look, which de Sève considered even more menacing than the T. rex.[1]
The film's original trailer debuted with the film Horton Hears a Who! on March 14, 2008, then online on April 7, 2008.
There are three others that have been released, with the third and fourth being the most closely resembling each other.
Queen Latifah recorded a cover of the song.
Adult Jokes[]
- Main article: List of adult jokes in Ice Age
Unlike previous Ice Age films, Dawn of the Dinosaurs had an intense amount of adult jokes and violence situations.
This is a list of some/all of these kind of events.
- When the Baby Dinos are born and Sid needs to find food for them, he tries to obtain milk from a sleeping Ox, however, the Ox wakes up and chases Sid, who yells, "I thought you were a female!"
- At one part when Manny and Diego are trapped inside an enormous carnivore plant, Diego says he feels tingly, to which Manny responds, "Don't say that when you're pressed up against me."
- As Buck walks off with the possums to retrieve Sid, he states "What does that mean, 'I've got your back'? I'd rather cover the front. That's where the good stuff is, isn't it?"
- While riding a pterosaur Buck grabs some berries. It reveals that Scrat and Scratte were likely getting ready for copulation behind it. They break the 4th wall and try to cover themselves from the audience.
- This movie likely has the highest body count of the movies, with a group of pterosaurs diving into lava, and Manny crushing Guanlongs.
- After Sid sees Peaches, he exclaims "It's a boy!" before being told by Diego that what he saw was actually a tail.
Reception[]
Despite receiving mixed reviews from film critics, the film was positively welcomed from audiences and fans with many praising the animation, character development, humor, heart, soundtrack, both Sid and Scrat's subplots, action scenes, screenplay and the character of Buck who became a very popular character of the franchise that he was brought back years later in the fifth film and he's even receiving his own film in 2022. Many called it the best Ice Age movie and the last of the series to be great.
Reception | |
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Review scores | |
Publication | Score |
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs received generally mixed reviews from critics.
As of August 12, 2009, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 46% of critics gave positive reviews marking it as a rating, out of 146 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10 and a 33% from top critics.
It has a score of 50 out of 100 on Metacritic citing mixed or average reviews. [1]
However, Roger Ebert ultimately gave the film a three and a half star out of four review claiming that: Lou Lumenik of the New York Post awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars stating that the film is Keith Phipps of the A.V. Club graded the film a C+ claiming the sequel
While many praised the animation, some critics panned the flatness of the story and indifferent voice work.
[]
- Main article: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs/Awards
The film's score was composed by John Powell and John Leguizamo's voice performance as Sid by was considered for the Annie Awards[2].
Box office[]
The movie made $19,791,157 on its opening day at the box office.
It reached approximately $42,500,000 on its opening weekend at #1, according to studio estimates, tying last week's champion Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
The actual grosses declared Revenge of the Fallen the victor between the two.
Ice Age 3 grossed $67,506,000 after 5 days, $148,000,000 internationally for a total of $215,506,000 for the first week.
The film closed on November 22, 2009 with a total of $883,718,521 USD worldwide.
The film had its opening weekend on July between Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and The Cove.
It is the 2nd highest grossing computer animated film of all time and the highest grossing Ice Age film.
It is currently the highest grossing 20th Century Fox film of the year.
Also, it is the highest grossing international computer animated film in history, with $678 million, surpassing Finding Nemo's $524 million.
Soundtrack[]
- Main article: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (soundtrack)
The musical scores were done by John Powell who did the scores for the previous movie.
Queen Latifah's cover of Walk the Dinosaur was used to promote the movie though it doesn't appear in the soundtrack.
Video game[]
- Main article: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (video game)
A video game was released on June 30, 2009.
Blu-ray Disc & DVD release[]
- Main article: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs/Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on October 27, 2009 in the US. Release on other countries varied and ended on Dec 4, 2009.
Unlike previous Ice Age films, the DVD was released as 20th Century Fox's Halloween treat and didn't feature a new Scrat animated short.
The movie was rated PG for some mild rude humor and peril, as seen on the back of the DVD and Blu-Ray disc of the movie.
Trivia[]
- This movie erased the fact about T-Rex as the main antagonist for all Dino movies.
- A preview of this film was shown on the DVD of Horton Hears a Who.
- This is the first Blue Sky Studios film to feature Bill Hader.
- This is the first Ice Age film to be released in not to be released in March.
- This is the only Ice Age film to start with Scrat not doing anything with his acorn.
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is the fourth Blue Sky Studios film to have a non–human cast, after Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Horton Hears a Who!.
- The last Blue Sky Studios film to be produced in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, until The Peanuts Movie. This is also the last Ice Age film to be produced in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
- This is the last Ice Age film directed by Carlos Saldanha.
- The second film had Manny mention that the dinosaurs went extinct, and in this one Ellie repeats that, meaning that somehow the animals knew about the existence of dinosaurs on earth, even though that was millions of years before the films take place, and animals don't have paleontology tools.
- Throughout the movie there is sunlight in the Dinosaur Valley, and when Buck tells the story of when he fought Rudy there is rain and lightning. The light could have been the sunlight from the surface magnified by the ice, and the rain could have been melting ice.
- Also, Buck seems to to have gone insane, and put the lightning in for dramatic effect.
- It is also possible that the rain forest that the dinosaurs live in could have created its own atmosphere.
- Sid finds the Tyrannosaurus rex's eggs in an ice cave. No egg could survive in such a cold environment without a constant source body heat from the parent.
- Also, there is a considerable distance between the cavern and the Dinosaur World entrance, which leaves it unclear why Momma left the eggs so far.
- When everyone except Buck is asleep, Ellie is shown next to Manny, even holding trunks with him by the looks of it. However, when Manny wakes from his nightmare, Ellie is a good distance away from him, around twenty feet.
- Based on the snout shape of Baryonyx, scientists claim that it would rather eat fish rather than mammals.
- When Sid tossed an Archaeopteryx off a cliff and expected it to fly, the Archaeopteryx plummeted to the ground instead until it got eaten by a Pteranodon. It seems odd that the Archaeopteryx seemed unable to fly since it is a bird that has wings that are built for flying.
- This is the first Blue Sky Studios film that wasn't released in March.
- This is the first Ice Age movie that doesn't end with Manny giving Sid a ride on his back, or having the herd walk into the sunset.
- This isn't the first time dinosaurs were featured in the franchise. In the first film, Sid actually once saw a frozen T. Rex while the original trio were venturing in an icy cave.
- Fast Tony is the only character from the second film that don't appear in the third film.
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is possibly set at least two years after the events of the second film, this is based on the fact that Ellie's pregnancy lasted around a normal elephant's, and that she is close to giving birth at the start of the movie.
- The 20th Century Fox logo featured in the theatrical version was retained in the Blu-ray 3D and TrioScopics 3D DVD releases and may be retained in the TV release of the film.
- It took only 26 days approximately to fetch $670 million and overcome its predecessor Ice Age: The Meltdown.
- This is the first film in the Ice Age series not to be released in March.
- It's also the first film in the Ice Age series to be released in July.
- It is the first (so far), and only Blue Sky Studios film that has become a trilogy.
- This is the last Blue Sky Studios film to use the 1994 20th Century Fox logo.
Sequels[]
- Ice Age: Continental Drift was released July 13th 2012, ten years after the first film. In the movie, Manny, Sid and Diego are sent adrift on an iceberg.
- Ice Age: Collision Course will be released July 22nd 2016, ten years after the second film. In that movie, the gang will face cosmetic adventures.
Gallery[]
References[]
External links[]
- Official UK website
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs at the Internet Movie Database
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs at Rotten Tomatoes
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs at Allmovie
Ice Age |
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Films |
Ice Age (2002) • Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) • Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) • Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) • Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) • The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022) |
Characters |
Scrat • Manny • Sid • Diego • Ellie • Crash and Eddie • Buck • Peaches • Granny • Shira • Zee |
Shorts |
Gone Nutty (2002) • No Time for Nuts (2006) • Surviving Sid (2008) • Scrat's Continental Crack-up (2010) • Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2011) • Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe (2015) • Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade (2016) • Scrat: Spaced Out (2016) |
TV Series |
Scrat Tales (2022) • Buck Wild (TBA) |
Other clips |
Lost Historical Films during the Ice Age period • Falling for Scratte • Unearthing the Lost World • Buck: From Easel to Weasel |
Video games |
Ice Age • The Meltdown • Dawn of the Dinosaurs • Continental Drift |