Overall Thoughts: A solid improvement over the last film, but falls short of a return to form for this franchise.
Ice Age is a franchise that went on for one too many films. It hit an entertaining high with Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Continental Drift, before crashing down to planet earth with the really bad Collision Course back in 2016. So, what happens when you see potential in a franchise? You bring it to your streaming service! That's what all old franchises are doing these days. Good idea? Ehhh....
Yet, I am surprised that I actually kinda liked this spin-off movie. I could not put my finger on it at first, and then it hit me. The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild improves from Collision Course in quite a few ways. It's refreshingly much simpler. Less characters to keep track of. A less nonsensical plot. And the modern references here are way less and are thankfully weighed out by pure prehistoric shenanigans.
This also leads to the fact that this entry feels more like a Saturday morning cartoon in its plotting and execution. This is both a good and bad thing. Yes, it's nice to not have a complex story where you're wondering what's going on. And thankfully, there's pretty decent character development here too. But, a lot of the way it is structured and written feels more suited for a TV show than a top-notch streaming service or cinematic experience.
The animation is a little bit down in quality from its' theatrical predecessors, but not too noticeably so. The character and background designs remain cartoony and fun. It's also a big relief that Simon Pegg came back to lend his unique persona to Buck. He's a memorable character thanks to Pegg's terrific voice acting.
Of course, I am scratching my head as to why he's the only actor coming back to his character. Some of the replacements do a nice job (particularly Ellie's, played by TV actress Dominique Jennings), but others are a little obvious. Diego and Sid's characters, for example, definitely sound a little bit off from Denis Leary and John Leguizamo. And where are Peaches and Shira? The film never answers those questions or shows us really where in this timeline the movie takes place.
And, of course, the film's most glaring omission is, what happened to Scrat? His slapstick gags were definitely among the most memorable in these films. His absence here is a bit of a confusing one. However, considering that the overall film ended up being more entertaining than expected, it didn't quite bother me as much as I thought it would. Meanwhile, the villain here is purely Saturday morning cartoon. However, the inclusion of a backstory and a not too over-the-top voice performance keeps him from being cringy.
Overall, for kids, this is a pretty fun excursion with familiar friends. For everyone else, while it's not the franchise at its best, it's definitely not the disaster I was fearing it would be.
Grade: C+
Is this movie family-friendly? The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild is rated PG for "some action and mild language". That second reason is odd, because there's zero profanity or obscenities in the final film, unless you count calling characters "ding dongs". There are some lightly perilous moments in the film, with cartoonish dinos snapping at each other, knocking characters out with tails or brute strength, or engaging in chases. A giant spider that appears and runs toward the camera a couple of times might scare a few little ones. A handful of close calls as well. A couple of jokes about gas and "making your mark". All of that in mind, this is definitely a fine choice for ages 5 and up.
Is this movie family-friendly? The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild is rated PG for "some action and mild language". That second reason is odd, because there's zero profanity or obscenities in the final film, unless you count calling characters "ding dongs". There are some lightly perilous moments in the film, with cartoonish dinos snapping at each other, knocking characters out with tails or brute strength, or engaging in chases. A giant spider that appears and runs toward the camera a couple of times might scare a few little ones. A handful of close calls as well. A couple of jokes about gas and "making your mark". All of that in mind, this is definitely a fine choice for ages 5 and up.
