Close questioning of the nine year old male critic who accompanied me to see Ice Age 3 revealed that he had enjoyed it very much, that it was just as good as the previous Ice Age films and that he was in general very pleased he had been.
Closer questioning extracted the opinion that the new weasel character was fun but he still preferred Sid the Sloth.
Over the next 24 hours he kept recalling bits of dialogue that he particularly enjoyed. This is an over-the-top, holding-nothing-back reaction from him guaranteeing that he would quite happily see it again at the cinema and that I will be pestered to get it on DVD.
For adults it’s a good outing from the franchise passing the time quickly with one or two good jokes thrown our way. I’d like to have had a bit more dialogue from Sid but that’s a personal thing – I would devour a book called My Life And Philosphy by S. Sloth.
The plot revolves around starting families and the effect on friendship which is pretty grown-up for kids I thought. Still it's not too long before we are whisked away on spectacular chase scenes and general knockabout comedy involving a hidden dinosaur world. The 3D effects are great fun.
Simon Pegg is great in his role as the weasel even though he seems to be playing it as a slightly less mannered Russell Brand. I defy anyone not to be thrilled by the flying sequence – I thought it a stupendous piece of film-making and look forward to seeing it again.
Overall? Great stuff. You can go out to see it with the necessary confidence that the whole family will enjoy it and come out with that pleasant uplifted feeling so essential in life. The reviewer in one of the Sunday papers thought it 20 minutes too long for adults which struck me as weird as I thought it just right.
Ice Age 3 - Dawn of the Dinosaurs is showing at cinemas now. Brian and Mattie were guests at a special screening to celebrate the launch of www.woolworths.co.uk