Tonight’s movie: Ice Age

The latest digital animation extravaganza, Ice Age, is entertaining, funny, and surprisingly lightweight. Two complete misfits and a bad guy with a melted heart attempt to return a baby human boy to his father as winter falls, all the other animals are headed south before the ice age freezes them solid, and a pack of tigers plot to kill the boy. The animation is top-grade, as good as anything Pixar has done yet, there’s a great deal of originality (such as the ongoing antics of the Scrat and his acorn), and the voices are good, especially Dennis Leary and John Leguizamo. Still, in the end, I was left wanting something more. The scene where we learn about Manfred Mammoth’s parents’ death at the hands of humans was a good step in this direction but not enough. Recommended especially if you are going with kids.