You'd think Ice Age would have hit a brick wall by now and finished up. Yet, it's still ploughing on and in this fifth instalment, the gang are up against... a meteor. Literally. Fun for what it is, but hugely forgettable.
When Ice Age hit our cinemas in 2002, the animated comedy was an interesting mix of voices - Dennis Leary, Ray Romano and John Leguizamo - coming together for a zany trip through a pre-historic world. Five entries later, the series has definitely lost its shimmer and gloss and is now something akin to a cut-rate television series with half-recognisable voices and an increasingly daft premise.
The herd, led by a truly bored-sounding Ray Romano, welcomes a new member, Julian (Workaholics' Adam Devine), who's due to be married to his daughter. Concurrently to all this, the squirrel Scrat manages to set off a chain events that leads to an asteroid striking the planet and wiping out all life. Yes, really. To explain all this and give the story a bit of movement, Simon Pegg's one-eyed adventurer weasel, Buck, returns to the herd and investigates both the cause of the asteroid and how to stop it from happening. In other words, it's Armageddon without Bruce Willis or going into space and there's talking pre-historic animals.
By and large, the voice cast sound like they're fitting their recording sessions in between auditions for larger roles. Ray Romano surely doesn't need the money anymore whilst Dennis Leary, likewise, has enough television projects to keep him busy. John Leguizamo, likewise, is doing enough supporting work that he shouldn't be in this. Newcomer Adam Devine, however, probably signed on for a decent-sized paycheque and a chance to move on from the more adult-orientated comedy he's done. There's also New Girl's Max Greenfield in there and Nick Offerman from Parks & Recreation, two shows that recently finished up and have given its stars time to take on easy jobs like this.
There's something incredibly by-the-numbers about Ice Age: Collision Course. The jokes are fired off in multitudes, giving no time to let them settle or land and the action sequences are uninspired and largely forgettable. For children, who - let's face it - are the real target audience here, there's enough brightness and pratfalls for them to enjoy. There's also a nice little touch with Neil DeGrasse Tyson giving out a physics lesson during the film, but that's about it. At just under 90 minutes, Ice Age: Collision Course is mercifully short.
It has a few entertaining moments, but it's all so bland and unoriginal that it's hard to get worked up about it. Distracting enough for children under ten, but tedious for anyone beyond that.