Ice Age is a 2002 American computer-animated buddy comedy drama adventure film directed by Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge from a story by Michael J. Wilson. It was produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Chris Wedge and was nominated at the 75th Academy Awards for best animated feature. It focus on a grumpy mammoth named Manny, a talkative and lazy ground sloth named Sid and a sinister sabertooth tiger Diego trying to bring back a human baby to his tribe.

The film recieved generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its mature themes, story, characters, the voice cast performance (especially those of Leguizamo and Leary), Newman's musical score, message and the climax. It was also a box office success by grossing over $383 million, starting the Ice Age franchise. It was followed by four sequels, Ice Age: The Meltdown in 2006, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 2009, Ice Age: Continental Drift in 2012 and Ice Age: Collision Course in 2016, four short films, Gone Nutty in 2002, No Time for Nuts in 2006, Surviving Sid in 2008 and Scrat: Spaced Out in 2016, and two television specials, Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas in 2011 and Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade in 2016. A spin-off film, titled Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild, was released on 29 January 2022.

Plot[]

A sabertooth squirrel named Scrat is trying to find a place to store his prized acorn. Eventually, as he tries to stomp it into the ground, he causes a large crack in the ground that extends for miles and miles and sets off a large avalanche. He barely escapes, but finds himself stepped on by a herd of prehistoric animals ending up to being flattened under a female Macrauchenia's foot that steps on him at every step she makes, much to Scrat's dismay.

The animals are trying to avoid the ice age by migrating south. Sid, a clumsy ground sloth left behind by his family, decides to move on by himself but is attacked by two Brontops whom he angered. Sid is soon saved by Manfred ("Manny"), an agitated mammoth who fights them off and is heading north. Not wanting to be alone and unprotected, Sid follows Manny. Meanwhile, Soto, the leader of a Smilodon pride, wants revenge on a group of humans by eating the chief's baby son, Roshan, alive especially since they lost half of their pack and are now used as clothes. The next day at dawn, Soto leads a raid on the human camp, during which Roshan's mother is separated from the rest and jumps down a waterfall when cornered by Soto's lieutenant, Diego. For his failure, Diego is sent to find and retrieve the baby.

Later, Sid and Manny spot Roshan and his mother near the lake, having survived her plunge. The mother only has enough strength to trust her baby to Manny before she disappears. At first Manny refuses to help Sid return the baby but after failing to climb up the falls and the baby getting snatched by Diego, Manny saves it. Diego claims to be returning the baby to its herd, Manny doesn't trust Diego. Manny decides to help Sid return Roshan, but when they reach the human settlement, they find it deserted. Diego says he did warn them but the humans aren't far. Diego tells Manny he can track humans so he'll take the baby but Manny still doesn't believe Diego's actions but already knows the humans are going to Glacier Pass since they have a settlement on the other side. Diego is able to talk his way into helping them stating that with his tracking they'll be able to reach the pass before it closes with snow. The four travel on, with Diego secretly leading them to his pack for an ambush.

While having small adventures on their way, they reach a cave with several drawings made by humans. There Sid and Diego learn about Manny's past and his previous interactions with the human hunters, in which his wife and son were killed, leaving Manny a cynical loner. Later, Manny, Sid, Diego and Roshan almost reach Half-Peak but encounter a river of lava. Manny and Sid, along with Roshan, make it safely, but Diego struggles, about to fall into the lava. Manny rescues him, narrowly missing a fall into the lava himself. Diego is amazed that Manny saved him after everything and Manny says it's what you do in a herd. The herd takes a break for the night, and Roshan takes his first walking steps to Diego. Eventually after some close words from Sid, Diego starts to realize that he not only cares for Roshan but also cares about Sid and Manny after all they went through.

The next day, the herd approach the ambush, causing Diego to confess to Manny and Sid about the ambush, and he tells them to trust him. The herd battles Soto's pack, and a short fight ensues. As Soto closes in for the kill on Manny, Diego leaps and stops Soto, who wounds Diego in the process. Manny knocks Soto into a rock wall, causing several sharp icicles to fall on Soto, killing him. The rest of the pack then retreats. The group then mourns for the injury caused to Diego. Soon, Manny and Sid manage to return the baby to his tribe, and Diego rejoins them, as the group begins to head off to warmer climates.

20,000 years later, Scrat, frozen in the ice, ends up on the shores of a tropical island. When the ice slowly melts, the acorn is then washed away. He mistakenly triggers a volcanic eruption, while stomping the coconut into the ground.

Cast[]

The characters are all prehistoric animals. The animals can talk to and understand each other and are voiced by a variety of famous actors. Like many films of prehistoric life, the rules of time periods apply very loosely, as many of the species shown in the film never actually lived in the same time periods or the same geographic regions.

• Ray Romano as Manfred "Manny", an angry and grumpy wholly mammoth that doesn't want to have any bond with anyone after a traumatic experience. Overtime Manny softens and comes to realize what family means.
• Denis Leary as Diego, a sinister and threatening sabertooth tiger that pretends to help Manny and Sid to take the human baby back to his tribe while he actually plans to take the baby to his pack in order to kill him and have their revenge on the death of some of their pack members. Diego eventually comes to care for the three especially when the baby takes a liking to him.
• John Leguizamo as Sid, a goofy and talkative ground sloth that has been abandoned by his own family and he's the one to create the trio in the first place having the idea to bring the baby back to his herd.
• Chris Wedge as Scrat, a crafty and down with luck sabertooth squirrel that constantly tries to hide his acorn for the winter only to lose it or finishing in some trouble every time. He dosen't follow Manny, Sid and Diego, instead he has his own adventure in a subplot with his scenes being a recall to the 90' cartoons of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner.
• Goran Visnjic as Soto, an evil and murderous sabertooth tiger that is Diego's leader and the alpha of the pack and wants to kill the baby to have his revenge on the humans tribe after they killed some members of his pack.
• Jack Black as Zeke, a tiny and crazy sabertooth tiger that is a member of Soto's pack.
• Diedrich Bader as Oscar, an arrogant and snob sabertooth tiger that is a member of Soto's pack and Diego's rival.
• Alan Tudyk as Lenny, a fat stupid sabertooth tiger and a member of the Soto's pack.
• Cedric the Entertainer as Carl, a prepotent and murderous rhyno that wants to kill Sid because the latter accidentally ruined his salad. He's Frank's best friend.
• Stephen Root as Frank, a prepotent and murderous rhyno that wants to kill Sid after the latter accidentally ruined his salad. He's Carl's best friend.
• Jane Krakowski as Rachel, a sweet female ground sloth that Sid tries to conquer.
• Lorri Bagley as Jennifer, a fat yet nice female giant ground sloth.