Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special is a fun animated short and fans of the Ice Age franchise will get a kick out of it. And even if you haven’t seen the other films, there’s still a fun time to be had. With regards to the Blu-ray, given the retail price is $15, that is a bit steep even with a discount. If you can grab this for $5 then it’d be worth it.
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special (2011)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Animation, Family, Comedy
Fox | NR – 26 min. – $14.99 | November 26, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Karen Disher
Writer(s): Sam Harper and Mike Reiss (written by)
Cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott
DISC INFO:
Features: Music Video, Ice Age: Continental Drift Sneak Peek, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
Number of Discs: 3
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 3.75/5
Animated Christmas special shorts have become almost a norm where some established franchise tells a new spin on some Christmas story (ditto goes for the numerous Halloween specials). Impressively these shorts also manage to bring back the voice talents providing consistency as well as chemistry. Thus far we’ve gotten specials for Madagascar (Merry Madagascar and The Penguins of Madagascar in a Christmas Caper), Shrek (Shrek the Halls) and now the gang from the Ice Age movies have joined in the fun. These animated shorts serve not only for passable family fun but also to fill a 30-minute slot on the network.
This new special, entitled Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special, follows Manny (RAY ROMANO), wife Ellie (QUEEN LATIFAH), daughter Peaches and best buds Sid (JOHN LEGUIZAMO) and Diego (DENIS LEARY) as they celebrate the holiday. But Sid being Sid quickly gets into trouble by first shattering Manny’s festival ball, a family heirloom, after which Manny, thinking Santa is a myth, makes up that Sid is on Santa’s naughty list.
So Sid, along with Peaches – who wants to prove to her dad that Santa does exist –, Crash (SEANN WILLIAM SCOTT) and Eddie make the journey to the North Pole. Their trek leads them to a flying reindeer named Prancer (T.J. MILLER) who helps them on the journey.
Meanwhile, when Manny and Ellie realize Peaches is missing, they and Diego set off in the same direction, thanks to Sid’s distinct smell and Diego’s nose for tracking. Their path leads to the reunion with the other group and meeting Santa who, thanks to their intrusion, might miss Christmas after an avalanche buries all the toys. So they join together to save Christmas along with the help with a group of other reindeer that would start a Christmas legend. Sorry for the spoiler…
At only 23-minutes without credits, this Christmas special has some funny moments and a certain cuteness factor that has made the Ice Age films successful (so much so that a fourth film is set for a July 2012 release). I can’t say this is anything noteworthy but it’s about on par with the likes of Shrek the Halls and Merry Madagascar and it’s also fun for the entire family. In my collection, I will have this title with the others and wouldn’t hesitate to pop it into the Blu-ray/DVD player and watch in one night.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5
This three-disc release comes with a bare bones DVD Copy and a Digital Copy disc. On the Blu-ray, we only get a Sneak Peek (2:03; HD) at the upcoming Ice Age: Continental Drift sequel and a music video (3:00; HD).
VIDEO – 4.0/5
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special comes to Blu-ray presented in its original 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and 1080p high-definition. I won’t say this is an impressive transfer and considering it’s an animated short, the colors at least pops off the screen nicely while the detail level looks good and sharp.
AUDIO – 3.5/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track isn’t great yet effective enough. A fair amount of the short is dialogue so on that front it sounds good but when you get into some of the more action elements it’s pretty average. That said, it’s an OK lossless track just nothing special.
OVERALL – 3.0/5
Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special is a fun animated short and fans of the Ice Age franchise will get a kick out of it. And even if you haven’t seen the other films, there’s still a fun time to be had. With regards to the Blu-ray, given the retail price is $15, that is a bit steep even with a discount. If you can grab this for $5 then it’d be worth it, otherwise you probably can catch it on television in the years to come when Fox needs something to air near Christmas time.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 12/03/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.