By Laurence Washington
This seems to be the summer of 3-D animation with “Up,” “Monsters vs. Aliens” and “Coraline” being the first out of the gate. Enter “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” a slightly funny family film starring the familiar glacier-happy regulars that we’ve all grown to love Scrat, Sid (the lisping sloth,), woolly mammoths Manny and Ellie (Ray Romano and Queen Latifah) and saber-toothed tiger Diego ( Denis Leary).
In this third installment, Manny and Ellie are expecting parents, Diego is feeling long in the tooth (pardon the pun) and Scrat (whose always looking for a nut) finds romance. Meanwhile, Sid discovers a lost world of dinosaurs under the ice and several baby T-Rex eggs that he tries his hand at raising. However, the cuddly hatchlings are more trouble than he bargained for when their angry mother appears and whisks him and the babies away. Naturally the gang set out to rescue Sid.
“Dawn of the Dinosaurs” leaves itself open for a fourth installment. I was happy with just the first film. It seems that each installment gets less and less funny. There are a few laughs as Sid tries to milk a male yak and Scrat hasn’t gotten over his acorn obsession. Not to mention that the 3-D effects are great. Not as good as “Up,” or “Monsters vs. Aliens, ” but nonetheless satisfying. Unfortunately this new film fails to measure up to the first two, 3-D or not. Kids will probably love it, but older fans will notice that many of the characters have lost their edge.
