Ice Age (2002)

Here's a confession: I've seen Ice Age more times than I've seen most films I'd actually call favourites. Not by choice, initially. But when your kid latches onto something, you watch it. You watch it again. You watch it on a rainy Saturday, on a long car journey on a tablet with dodgy headphones, and then somehow again on a Sunday afternoon because they asked nicely. And the funny thing is, after all that, I don't hate it. I genuinely don't. It's won me over, and I'm not even embarrassed about it.

That's not nothing, by the way. Plenty of kids' films collapse under repeat viewings. The jokes dry up, the charm curdles, and you're left staring at the clock wondering how there's still forty minutes left. Ice Age doesn't do that. It holds up. Not as a great film, not as something that's going to make you reassess what animation can do, but as a solid, warm, genuinely likeable adventure that does exactly what it sets out to do.

For an early 2000s animated film, the visuals are impressive. The frozen landscapes, the ice tunnels, the sheer scale of some of the environments, it all feels considered and crafted with real care. Blue Sky Studios were clearly swinging for something ambitious here, and while the character animation looks a little stiff by today's standards, there's a tactile quality to the world that still works.

But the real reason this film lands is the central trio. You've got a grumpy mammoth voiced by Ray Romano, who is, frankly, far more watchable than you'd expect. Romano plays him with this weary, reluctant decency that makes you root for him even when he's being a grouch. Then there's the sloth, Sid. Look, Sid is the kind of character who should be annoying. He's loud, he's clumsy, he's basically chaos in furry form. And yet he's the one who sticks with you. Every time he opens his mouth I'm either wincing or laughing, sometimes both. And then there's the sabre-toothed tiger circling the edges of the group dynamic, giving the film just enough tension to keep it from being too soft.

The story itself is simple, a small human baby needs to get back to his tribe, and our mismatched trio end up as unlikely protectors. It's road movie structure, basically, with ice. The jokes are decent, the heart is genuine, and there's a sequence involving Scrat, the acorn-obsessed squirrel, that requires absolutely no context and is funny every single time. My kid loses it completely. Honestly, so do I.

Is it high art? No. Is it going to redefine what animation can be the way certain other films from that era tried to? Not even close. But there's a difference between a film that's forgettable and a film that's quietly, unpretentiously good at what it is. Ice Age is the latter. It's got a big enough heart and enough genuine laughs to earn its place, and the fact that it spawned a whole franchise tells you something about how much affection people have for these characters. I've covered the sequels too, for what it's worth, including Ice Age: The Meltdown and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and the quality does waver as the series goes on. But this first one? It earns its goodwill.

Three stars. A good time, no apologies.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 2002  | Watched: 2025-07-21

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · Disney Plus · Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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Related on Movies With Macca

More with Ray Romano: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) · Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) · Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) · Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)