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The visuals are excellent but the overlong narrative is counterproductive, writes Ervell E. Menezes Hollywood
continues with its sequel mania. Why oh why, you wonder. Can’t
one be satisfied with that cute original? But no, you (that is they)
have to add more characters and though Elle (voiced by Queen Latifah)
is welcome as the mammoth that thinks she’s a possum, the same
cannot be said of some others.
The accent should be on quality, not quantity. But those who have let the original trio—Manny, the woolly mammoth, Sid, the sloth, and Diego, the saber-toothed tiger — grow on them will find the fare quite tolerable. The prehistoric squirrel/ rat known as Scrat, is there, too, chasing his elusive nut but it’s meltdown time and all the animals are getting ready for the new experience. Yes, global warming is the name of the game (the sequel could well be about the "open market") and our animal kingdom is somewhat wary about the next step, but change is always welcome. What if there is a deluge? Who’ll be the new Noah? Meanwhile, Manny is ready to start a new family but no one has seen another mammoth that is until he miraculously finds Elle. But they are not exactly like two peas in a pod and Elle is carrying excess baggage in the form of two possum brothers Crash and Eddie. How the story develops is far from racy but director Carlos Saldanha, who earlier gave us Robots and Ice Age, comes up with a few gags to chug along, even though the original freshness is missing. There are some needless characters, which tend to detract from the meat of the story. There are far too many "asides," which sadly tend to prolong the agony. They should have thought of heightening the ecstasy. May be Elle can be considered the redeeming feature and some of her mannerisms are really cute. The visuals are excellent but the overlong narrative is counterproductive. The Bunuel theory of brevity being the soul of wit should apply especially to the animation genre. But no, the creative folk become obsessive and stretch the story to inordinate lengths. The result is you have the curate’s egg. Why put up a good-in-parts entertainer when it could have been an absolute delight!
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