The best thing about the Ice Age franchise for me (and for no doubt many others) has to be Scrat, the poor prehistoric saber-toothed squirrel who will do absolutely anything to get just an acorn.

For three movies past now, I’ve been willing him onto reaching his goal! Apple have released a new short for the fourth installment in the Ice Age franchise Ice Age: Continental Drift and if you’re a Scrat fan, you’re going to love it!

Ice Age: Continental Drift features voices from Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lopez, Wanda Sykes, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Drake, Josh Gad, Alan Tudyk, Nick Frost, Joy Behar and is directed by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier.

Scrat’s nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he’s been after since the dawn of time, has world-changing consequences – a continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny, Diego and Sid. In the wake of these upheavals, Sid reunites with his cantankerous Granny, and the herd encounters a ragtag menagerie of seafaring pirates determined to stop them from returning home.

Come on Scrat, you can do it!

What today really needed was a new poster for the latest installement in a popular animated franchise and crikey – if the folks at Fox haven’t obliged.

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift reunites Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary in this new tale, which focuses on the character of Scrat. I’ve warmed to the other films in the series though I cant help but find some of the character designs a little offputting, Scrat for example looks like Rowan Atkinson has mated with a squirrel. And not an attractive squirrel.

But people love ‘em so why not throw caution to the wind and pump out another film?

Brace yourself to be hit in the synopsis,

One of filmdom’s most beloved trios – “Ice Age’s” Manny, Diego, and Sid – embark upon their greatest adventure after cataclysm sets an entire continent adrift.  Separated from the rest of the herd, they use an iceberg as a makeshift ship, which launches them on an epic seafaring quest. Manny and the gang are challenged like never before to become heroes and do the impossible, as they encounter exotic sea creatures, explore a brave new world, and battle ruthless pirates. Scrat’s reunion with his beloved but cursed acorn catapults him to places no prehistoric squirrel has gone before.

It’s really an update from the earlier promo image which surfaced last month, but can you spot the difference between this…

and this…

Apart from a nice new reflection and a deeper blue there’s this…

This…

I’m not taking a child anywhere near this.

One of the biggest animated success stories made outside of Disney or DreamWorks has been the Ice Age series, with each of the first three films earning more and more at the box office.

The teaser trailer for the fourth film, Ice Age: Continental Drift, landed back at the start of the year, and now the film’s first poster has arrived, courtesy of Focus On Animation.

Continental Drift is co-directed by Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier, the former of which directed 2008’s Horton Hears a Who! and the latter of which co-directed the third film in the series, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. And it’s been co-written by Michael Berg, who co-wrote the first and third films; Jason Fuchs, who makes his writing feature debut; and Mike Reiss, who co-wrote the third film and The Simpsons Movie.

It’s always good bringing back the writers and directors to continue their work with a series’ next instalments, so having some of the writers and directors back is surely a good sign. And of course, the Ice Age films are well known for their terrific cast, and Continental Drift promises a number of big names.

Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Chris Wedge, Queen Latifah, Josh Peck, and Seann William Scott will all be reprising their roles from the previous films, and added to the new instalment are Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Frost, Alan Tudyk, Heather Morris, Aziz Ansari, and Nicki Minaj.

I must confess that I’m still yet to see Dawn of the Dinosaurs, but I did love the first two things, and fully anticipate the fourth film being another solid comedy family film success. The third film made almost $900m. from a $90m. budget, so there’s clearly still a huge market for the series.

The poster looks to be American, announcing the release date as 13^th July, but we here in the UK can look forward to getting it a week earlier on 6^th July next year. That does, however, mean that it will be going up against The Amazing Spider-Man that weekend, which is a bit of a mistake in my opinion, since that will no doubt be a 12A and can thus pull the younger audience as well. But here’s to hoping that they’ll both do great in the cinema. We might see that release date pushed back a week, though not much more, since we’ve also got The Dark Knight Rises coming out at the end of July next year – so much to look forward to next summer! Without further ado, here’s the first poster. As usual, click to enlarge.

Ice Age – quite possibly the least historically accurate franchise ever – is set to return with a fourth instalment, currently subtitled Continental Drift.

Variety‘s report indicates that the acorn-starved actions of Scrat will trigger a chain reaction which ultimately reunites Sid the sloth with his family.

Along with the usual assortment of prehistoric plot devices, this means that directors Steve Martino and Michael Thurmerier have a family of sloths to cast.

Cue the signing of Nick Frost, Nicki Minaj, Joy Behar, JB Smoove, Heather Morris, Josh Gad, Alan Tudyk and Kunal Nayyar who will join franchise favourites Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Wanda Sykes, Aziz Ansari, Drake and Josh Peck for another dose of textbook defying antics.

20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios have set a July 6, 2012 release date for Continental Drift.

To celebrate the release of The Dilemma, on DVD and Blu-ray on 30^th May, we are offering three lucky readers the chance to win a Blu-ray copy!

Synopsis: Vince Vaughn and Kevin James headline an all-star comedy from director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer about a man who finds out that what you don’t say to a friend is just as important as what you do.  Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah join them in The Dilemma, a story of how far you can bend a brotherly bond before it snaps.

Since college, confirmed bachelor Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) have been through thick and thin.  Now partners in an auto design firm, the two pals are vying to land a dream project that would launch their company.  With Ronny’s girlfriend, Beth (Connelly), and Nick’s wife, Geneva (Ryder), by their sides, they’re unbeatable.

But Ronny’s world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees Geneva out with another man and makes it his mission to get answers.  As the amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own.  Now, with the clock ticking and pressure mounting on the biggest presentation of their careers, Ronny must decide how and when he will reveal the truth to his best friend.

To win this amazing prize all you have to do is watch the clip above and answer this simple question using the form below:

What does Vince Vaughn’s Ronny dupe Kevin James’ Nick into thinking?

1. His girlfriend is pregnant
2. His competitor had a near death experience
3. He is quitting his job to become a fulltime comedian

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 30th May at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Jeremy Renner (The Town), Jennifer Lopez (Shall We Dance), Wanda Sykes (Over the Hedge), Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee), Aziz Ansari (Funny People) and Aubrey Graham (Charlie Bartlett) have joined the voice cast of Ice Age: Continental Drift.

The new additions will star opposite returning cast members Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Jennette McCurdy and Will Hedge in the fourth instalment of 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios’ hugely successful animation franchise.

One of filmdom’s most beloved trios - Manny, Diego, and Sid – embark upon their greatest adventure after cataclysm sets an entire continent adrift. Separated from the rest of the herd, they use an iceberg as a makeshift ship, which launches them on an epic seafaring quest to find the others. Manny and the gang are challenged like never before to become heroes and do the impossible, as they encounter exotic sea creatures, explore a brave new world, and battle ruthless pirates. And Scrat’s reunion with his cursed nut catapults him to places no prehistoric squirrel has gone before.

Steve Martino (Horton Hears a Who) and Mike Thurmeier (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs) will direct from a screenplay co-written by Michael Berg, Jason Fuchs and Mike Reiss.

Ice Age: Continental Drift will be released on July 13, 2012.

Source: THR

Have you ever seen a bromantic dark comedy? No? Nor had I until director Ron Howard and writer Allan Loeb teamed up with Vince Vaughn and Peter James, resulting in the bizarre and incongruous concoction that is The Dilemma.  With drama-movie gold such as A Beautiful Mind and Frost/Nixon under his belt Howard isn’t exactly known for his comedic prowess so whilst The Dilemma appears to reflect the director’s flair for the dramatic the film strains to realize its full and in my opinion mis-advertised potential as a buddy-comedy against the wave of unexpectedly dark emotions thrown up by the characters.

Self-conscious smarty-pants Nick Brannen (Peter James) is the yin to Ronny Valentine’s (Vince Vaughn) silver-tongued and handsome yang. They’re best friends as well as independent business partners whose enduring love is supported by their doting and beautiful love-interests Beth (Jennifer Connelly) and Geneva (Winona Ryder). Ronny is a smooth-talking but self-centred romantic who views Nick and Geneva’s 20 years of marital bliss as something of a miracle and a personal inspiration until by chance he witnesses Geneva’s giggly, saliva-swapping infidelity with a young stud called Zip (Channing Tatum). To make matters worse he discovers Geneva’s affair at a pivotal moment in the duo’s careers as they are on the brink of signing a deal with Chrysler which will push their small electric-automotive company into hardcore business success. Ronny is thus faced with The Dilemma of when, where, how and whether or not he should confront his best friend with the crushing truth. Obviously, we all know Nick has to find out but Ronny is immature and egocentric – a most dangerous combination – and as far as we can make out until this point completely incapable of making committed and adult decisions that may influence his own life (for instance proposing to the wonderful Beth) let alone taking responsibility for his best friend’s happiness.

Now if you don’t like Vince Vaughn then don’t watch The Dilemma because it is in effect a two hour Vaughn marathon. This obviously has its downsides and creates a few glaring flaws, for instance in what universe could all 6ft and 5inches of Vaughn’s behemoth form go unnoticed by the various characters he ‘sneaks’ after whilst he plays private detective? But in many ways Vaughn is in his element and luckily the charm and appeal which has secured his place as one of the popular comedy titans shines through his otherwise quite unlikeable character. Saying that, Ronny rakes in a lot of the laughs and is the only character that appears to grow at all during the course of the film’s meaningful offerings. Sadly they are all under-developed.

Peter James’ Nick is an emotionally weak ergomaniac who is almost entirely obnoxious, his other half Geneva is an astonishingly manipulative piece of work whilst Beth is beautiful but bland.  This under-development means that although we understand what Howard is working towards, big grown-up emotions and real-life resolutions we just can’t subscribe to it. When Geneva proves that Nick is an indifferent and frankly rubbish hubby it is impossible to feel anything for her or justify her deception and it’s not helped particularly by the fact that we don’t really give a damn about Nick either. Howard has presented us with a melting pot of themes, intrigues and character traits which are too conflicting to rest comfortably within a comedy framework. Luckily, it appears myaudience and I all realized in the first 20 minutes that this wasn’t going to be the light-hearted, formulaic flick we’d anticipated which resulted in a steady stream of generous reactions.

Visually the film is quite rich and in places stunning due to a handful of choice locations and a clearly talented art director. Queen Latifah provides a refreshing (if regrettably short) piece of unrestrained comic brilliance in the cringe-worthily shameless role of Susan Warner, after-all, a bit of no-frills immodest fun is what we expected from the trailers… And I even quite enjoyed Channing Tatum’s fleeting and mostly naked presence but this is definitely due to Zip and Ronny’s ridiculous fight sequence which I must admit did tickle a few ribs. I am disinclined to dissect The Dilemma piece by piece because from the word go it’s not exactly what anybody expected but it does deliver a few decent laughs, a couple of feel-good moments and a rare opportunity to see mainstream comedy actors juggle a dark script and some deliberately difficult characters to relate to. But it is best to ignore the advertising hype, this film is not a simple comedy because it does bring a lot more to the table but whether the result is an appealing mixture or an unconvincing mess is hard to say. Overall I enjoyed The Dilemma and its attempt to break the mould but as I’ve mentioned, I was part of an indulgent audience and we were quick to spot the saving graces.

**½~~ (2.5/5)

The Dilemma hits UK cinemas today, January 21st

We’ve got two exclusive interviews for you today and the first is with legendary director, Ron Howard for his new movie, The Dilemma which hits UK cinemas this Friday. Our lovely friends Simon Thompson from the fabulous Upbeat conducts the interview where he talked to Howard about what we can expect from the movie as well as picking up on the subtle nods to the late John Hughes which he spotted in one scene.

The Dilemma stars Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Vince Vaughn, Queen Latifah, Kevin James, Channing Tatum and Talulah Riley.

Synopsis: Vince Vaughn and Kevin James headline an all-star comedy from director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer about a man who finds out that what you don’t say to a friend is just as important as what you do.  Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah join them in The Dilemma, a story of how far you can bend a brotherly bond before it snaps.

Since college, confirmed bachelor Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) have been through thick and thin.  Now partners in an auto design firm, the two pals are vying to land a dream project that would launch their company.  With Ronny’s girlfriend, Beth (Connelly), and Nick’s wife, Geneva (Ryder), by their sides, they’re unbeatable.

But Ronny’s world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees Geneva out with another man and makes it his mission to get answers.  As the amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own.  Now, with the clock ticking and pressure mounting on the biggest presentation of their careers, Ronny must decide how and when he will reveal the truth to his best friend.

Check out the video interview below:

Our friends from Sky earlier released some new character banners from Rio which you can see here but hidden beneath the banners was a lovely new teaser trailer for Ice Age 4 aka Ice Age: Continental Drift.

As Sky mention,the movie isn’t scheduled for release until 2012 but this awesome new trailer shows us that we can expect more of the same from this fourth movie with the teaser focusing on Scrat (Chris Wedge). Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary all return as their respective characters with Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier directing.

This new trailer sees Scrat take a jouney to the Earth’s core to retrieve his acorn. Find out if he gets it by watching the below!

I’ve loved all three of the previous Ice Age films so roll on a fourth I say!!

Universal Studios have just sent us this brand new behind the scenes featurette which gives us a better look at their new movie, The Dilemma which is directed by Ron Howard and stars Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah.

It’s scheduled for release in the UK January 21st and if you watch the video below, you’ll get a better idea about the movie and what it’s all about.

Synopsis: Vince Vaughn and Kevin James headline an all-star comedy from director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer about a man who finds out that what you don’t say to a friend is just as important as what you do.  Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah join them in The Dilemma, a story of how far you can bend a brotherly bond before it snaps.

Since college, confirmed bachelor Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) have been through thick and thin.  Now partners in an auto design firm, the two pals are vying to land a dream project that would launch their company.  With Ronny’s girlfriend, Beth (Connelly), and Nick’s wife, Geneva (Ryder), by their sides, they’re unbeatable.

But Ronny’s world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees Geneva out with another man and makes it his mission to get answers.  As the amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own.  Now, with the clock ticking and pressure mounting on the biggest presentation of their careers, Ronny must decide how and when he will reveal the truth to his best friend.

It looks like Ron Howard’s semi-controversial new comedy, The Dilemma, starring Kevin James and Vince Vaughn has finally got a poster to represent itself.

The poster isn’t anything special, just a shot of the two stars grinning and smiling with the title down the middle.  Perhaps it is actually splitting the two in half suggesting that Vaughn is going to be splitting their relationship up which, I guess, is pretty clever for those with a keen eye.

The film, which will start its release schedule on January 14th, is a comedy “about a man who finds out that what you don’t say to a friend is just as important as what you do…[and] how far you can bend a brotherly bond before it snaps.”

The Dilemma also stars Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum, Queen Latifah in supporting roles.

If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, you can watch the international version here.

Universal Pictures have just sent us the brand new trailer for the Ron Howard directed, Brian Grazer produced movie called The Dilemma. It  stars Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah.

Synopsis: Vince Vaughn and Kevin James headline an all-star comedy from director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer about a man who finds out that what you don’t say to a friend is just as important as what you do.  Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah join them in The Dilemma, a story of how far you can bend a brotherly bond before it snaps.

Since college, confirmed bachelor Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) have been through thick and thin.  Now partners in an auto design firm, the two pals are vying to land a dream project that would launch their company.  With Ronny’s girlfriend, Beth (Connelly), and Nick’s wife, Geneva (Ryder), by their sides, they’re unbeatable.

But Ronny’s world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees Geneva out with another man and makes it his mission to get answers.  As the amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own.  Now, with the clock ticking and pressure mounting on the biggest presentation of their careers, Ronny must decide how and when he will reveal the truth to his best friend.

I think this trailer looks great and I cant wait to see the movie when it’s released January 21st, 2011. Here’s a few images for you too and scroll down to view the new trailer.

Apple have posted the exclusive first trailer, and poster, for Ron Howard’s new comedy The Dilemma.

Featuring performances from Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Queen Latifah, Talulah Riley and Channing Tatum, The Dilemma centers on a man (Vaughn) who discovers that his best friend’s wife (Ryder) is having an affair.

The film has an interesting premise, and the trailer certainly looks promising, but it remains to be seen how the film as a whole will come together. After all, it has been a while since Howard has made a comedy film.

Check out the trailer, and poster, below:

Universal will release The Dilemma in January 2011.

To make this your summer of love, HeyUGuys are giving you the change to get your hands on this year’s most star-studded feel-good romantic comedy, Valentine’s Day, out on Blu-ray™ Multi-pack (Blu-ray™ +DVD +Digital Copy) and DVD on 12th July 2010.

From first dates to old flames, Valentine’s Day follows the lives of couples and singles as they experience the highs and lows of finding, keeping or ending relationships, over the course of one day.

Directed by the godfather of rom-coms, Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride), it boasts a stellar cast including, deep breath, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Garner, Emma Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, Kathy Bates, Taylor Swift, Anne Hathaway, Eric Dane, Jamie Fox, Hector Elizondo, Topher Grace, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine …need we go on?

If you want to see the trailer please click here and if you want to be in with the chance to win one of five Multi-packs simply answer the following question using the form below.
Which of the following stars of the movie Valentine’s Day did not pursue a career in music prior to their big screen debut?

a) Ashton Kutcher
b) Queen Latifah
c) Jessica Biel
d) Jamie Foxx

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close Monday the 26th of July at 23.59 GMT
• The winners will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

©2010 Warner Bros Entertainment. All rights reserved.

Gary Marshall’s cast list for his US Love Actually film Valentine’s Day should have guaranteed it rampant box office success.

Reuniting with Pretty Woman Julia Roberts, Marshall gathers a dozen or so strands of love of all kinds and attempts to weave them into a coherent web leaving us with the lasting impression that Love Will Conquer All™.

Andy reviewed the film for HeyUGuys, and you can read her review here, and I’m in agreement with what she says, only I’d go further and compare the experience to being rocketed through Madame Tussuads being force fed sugar coated sugar cubes.

The Blu-ray does look great and has a ton (seriously – a ton) of special features including numerous deleted scenes and out-takes which begs the question that while the cast clearly had a lot of fun, there was obviously too much going on and a cull of the storylines and episodes would have served this movie well. In fact, there’s about five or six standard Hollywood romances which could have been made from this one.

The one crucial element the film lacks is charm, well there’s also wit. It doesn’t have much of that either. What it has is a lot of Hollywood faces and pauses for the audience to laugh, which are very noticeable, and this is by no means the worst rom-com on offer this year, but it is the biggest waste of talent.

Blu-ray Special Features

• Outtakes:
  • Blooper Reel
• Additional Footage
  • Deleted Scenes with Optional Introductions by Gary Marshall
• Extras:
  • The Stars Confess Their Valentine’s Day Stories
  • Commentary by Director Gary Marshall
  • The Garry Factor – Find out from the star-studded cast why Garry Marshall was the only reason they agreed to do the film.
  • “Stay Here Forever” Music Video by Jewel

Valentine’s Day is out on Blu-ray and DVD on the 12th of July in the UK.

We rather enjoyed Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and unlike the faltering Shrek series there’s an actual sense of expectation for this new chapter.

20th Century Fox and Blue Sky have great confidence in the prehistoric animation, so much so that there’s news this morning that Ice Age 4 is on its way.

Subtitled Continental Drift, this film has a release date of Summer 2012 so it will sit nicely alongside the other projected releases for Batman 3 and the SpiderMan reboot.

Variety shouted this one out, and there are no other details at present, but if it can repeat the huge box office return of the third film then this won’t be the last time we see Scratte, Ellie, Diego and Sid.

With a cast that appears to have been a marketing team’s dream the appeal of this film is wider than the smile on Jennifer Garner’s face to the left. Comingsoon.net pointed us to this new featurette which takes a look at the hilarity and heartbreak that makes us the latest epic romantic comedy to hit us in the face.

The trailer to this Garry Marshall directed multi-stranded rom-com hit over Christmas and you can enjoy that here, and the featurette below offers the chance for a few of the stars to talk about the socio-economic impact of the catastrophic climate…no, sorry – they’re all talking about love.

And why not. Valentine’s Day will be released in February, of course.

It’s Christmas so what better time to throw out a trailer for Valentine’s Day, the Titanic of rom-coms? Ensemble casting has worked in the past, but I dare you to imagine a film more stuffed to the gills with stars than this one. It’s as if the casting director looked up the top 20 searches on Google and job done.

If Love Actually tickled your fancy then it appears Warner Brothers’ film will delight, and as long as director Garry Marshall, whose reputation has risen and fallen on his handling of some of the biggest collisions of rom and com in the last few decades, can handle the cross cutting narratives and potential overdose of twee then you’ll be in for a treat.

Synopsis: Valentine’s Day follows the intertwining storylines of a group of Los Angelinos as they find their way through romance over the course of one Valentine’s Day

Directed by veteran film maker Garry Marshall, the film features a star studded ensemble cast including Jessica Alba (“Fantastic Four”), Jessica Biel (“I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry”), Bradley Cooper (“The Hangover”), Eric Dane (TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy”), Patrick Dempsey (“Enchanted”), Hector Elizondo (the Princess Diaries” films), Academy Award® Winner Jamie Foxx (“Ray”), Jenifer Garner (“Juno”), Topher Grace (“Spider-Man 3″), Academy Award® nominee Anne Hathaway (“Rachel Getting Married”), Carter Jenkins (“Aliens in the Attic”) Ashton Kutcher (“What Happens In Vegas”), Academy Award® Nominee Queen Latifah (“Chicago”), George Lopex (“Beverly Hills Chihuahua”), Academy Award® Winner Shirley MacLaine (“Terms Of Endearment”), Emma Roberts (“Hotel for Dogs”), Academy Award® Winner Julia Roberts (“Erin Brockovich”) and Bryce Robinson (“Marley and Me”)

New Line Cinema presents “Valentine’s Day,” to be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Valentine’s Day is released in the US… go on, guess when. That’s right, the 12th February! Ummmm…….

In order to stand out from the crowd of 3D animated fare currently assaulting the box office you need to create a cast of charming characters in a world that is unique, throw in a witty script with lots of visual invention. The bar 20th Century and director and Ivce Age veteran Carlos Saldanha have to overcome has been set very high with the likes of  Up and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs this year alone, and Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, released this week on Blu-ray and DVD, succeeds on many levels.

When the film was released earlier in the year we reviewed it here, and it was a positive review. The film’s cast has a great hold on the characters and the visual fizz and momentum makes for an eye popping experience. It’s a wild ride that I found a lot to like, there was charm and the new characters and locations capture the essence of what makes Ice Age an enjoyable series. There are a few too many Flintstones lite anachronisms for my liking but there’s enough here to keep children of all ages happy.

The Blu-ray is really where this film shines – plainly put: This film looks incredible, even for Blu-ray standards, from the wide open landscapes and misty, ghostly caverns down to the intricate character models – the clarity of detail and colour is amazing – this is one to show off the new player.

The special features are the typical mix between the making of docs, abandoned scenes and cast interviews, the full listing is below and there’s so much to enjoy. The Blu-ray is bundled with a DVD copy and a digital version to watch ‘on the go’.

It’s a shot in the arm for the Ice Age series and with the digital acumen of Blue Sky Studios ever increasing it won’t be too long before the series gets a fourth installment.

To celebrate the launch of Ice Age 3 on Blu-ray and DVD 20th Century Fox enlisted the help of world famous street painter Edgar Muller to create a record breaking anamorphic street scene featuring the Ice Age characters – check it out below.

Blu-ray Special Features

• Disc One:
  • Blu-ray Disc Feature Film
  • Ice Age Storybook Maker
  • Buck’s Survival Guide: Fun Fossilized Factoids
  • Evolution Expedition
  • Buck: From Easel to Weasel
  • Unearthing the Lost World
  • Two Unfinished Deleted Scenes
  • Walk the Dinosaur Music Video
  • Animated Shorts
    • Surviving Sid
    • Gone Nutty ““ Scrat’s Missing Adventure
    • No Time for Nuts
  • Falling for Scratte
  • Filmmaker Commentary
  • Fox Movie Channel Presents In Character with Ray Romano
  • Fox Movie Channel Presents In Character with Queen Latifah
  • Fox Movie Channel Presents Making a Scene

Disc Two:

• Digital Copy ““ a copy of the film allowing a one-time download for watching Ice Age 3 on the go

DVD Special Features:

• Buck’s Survival Guide: Fun Fossilized Factoids
• Walk the Dinosaur Music Video
• Falling for Scratte
• Buck: From Easel to Weasel
• Digital Copy