Funny enough to mask the sound of barrels being scraped, the third instalment in the prehistoric franchise sees mammoth Manny (Ray Romano) – here reinvented as an anxious dad in waiting – Sid the sloth ( John Leguizamo) and Diego the sabretooth tiger (Denis Leary) stumbling across a subterranean land of hungry dinosaurs beneath the crust of their icy world.
The colourful result, with its flesh-eating plants, lava falls and green-gassed chasms, makes a visual change from the first two films, while manic squirrel Scrat finds an acorn-rival in glam rodent Scratte, enabling director Carlos Saldanha to squeeze more from his kid-pleasing character.
Shame about crazed one-eyed weasel Buck, though, an aggravating newcomer that even Simon Pegg’s vocals can’t save. “He’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic,” shrugs the Shaun Of The Dead guy in the From Easel To Weasel featurette.
A second doc does the same for Scratte, revealing en route how animator Karen Disher won the chance to supply her repertoire of sighs and squeaks.
A ‘Fossilised Factoid’ option provides trivia pop-ups during the picture, while Queen Latifah can be heard warbling on a ‘Walk The Dinosaur’ music promo.
Don’t expect to recreate the 3D experience at home just yet – no coloured specs in this package – but given its record-busting performance, we surely won’t have to wait an ice age for an extra-dimensional edition.
DVD Extras:
- Featurettes
- Factoids
- Music video
