I love the Ice Age series. They are among my fav animated movies and certainly my fav franchise. But have they run their course with this, the 5th movie? Have things become stale? I didn’t think so but I believe that this was the least critically appreciated movie despite making it in the box office. My favourite is still the first one ofcourse. Ice Age: Collision Course is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by Blue Sky Studios. It was directed by Mike Thurmeier and co-directed by Galen Tan Chu, and written by Michael Wilson, Michael Berg and Yoni Brenner. The film stars the voice talents of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg, Seann William Scott, Jennifer Lopez and Queen Latifah, all reprising their roles from previous films.[1][7] New additions to the cast include Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Adam DeVine, Nick Offerman, Max Greenfield, Stephanie Beatriz, Melissa Rauch, Michael Strahan, Jessie J and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Scat, trying to bury his acorn, accidentally activates an abandoned alien ship that takes him into deep space, where he unwittingly sends several asteroids en route to a collision (in an awesome cartoonish silly scene) with Earth. Meanwhile, Manny is playing ice hockey with his daughter Peaches but worried about the upcoming marriage between Peaches and her fiancé, Julian. Diego and his wife Shira want to start a family but they seem to scare any and all the kids in the area. Sid is dumped by his girlfriend, Francine, just as he is about to propose to her, and he laments his solitude. Manny also forgets his wedding anniversary but an asteroid shower has the crowd initially thinking he arranged the “fireworks” show. However the animals have to soon run for cover as some of the asteroids strike the place and the herd barely escape with their lives.
Buck, who has recovered a dinosaur egg from trio of dromaeosaurs named Gavin, Gertie, and Roger. Buck discovers an ancient stone pillar and takes it to the surface, where he meets Manny and the others. As Buck explains, the pillar depicts various points in time where the asteroids caused mass extinctions and with a massive one still incoming, he believes that the only place they could find a clue to stop it is on the site of the impact of the previous ones, as according to its engravings, they always fall at the same place. The three dromaeosaurs overhear their conversation and follow them. After a long trek, as they reach the crash site and find they discover that the asteroids have electro-magnetic properties. Buck theorizes that if a huge quantity of smaller asteroids should be gathered and launched into orbit, they could attract the main asteroid as well and prevent it from falling on Earth. The herd arrives at “Geotopia”, a community of immortal animals formed inside one of the asteroids that have fallen long ago, where Sid meets Brooke, a female ground sloth who falls in love with him.
The leadero of Geotopia, Shangri Llama, efuses to cooperate with Buck’s plan to send the city’s crystals into space in order to prevent the imminent impact, as they are the key to the residents’ longevity. Sid inadvertently destroys the entire city when he attempts to remove one of the stones to present Brooke with, immediately aging all of the Geotopians to their true ages. Brooke convinces the Geotopians that preventing the asteroid’s fall is more important than their lost youth, and everyone pitches in to fill up a geyser with the crystals so that the pressure launches them into space to draw the asteroid away. The dromaesaurs intervene but Roger is able to convince the other two to help save the lives of everyone. The plan works, and the asteroid is pulled back into space. The herd then departs back home, including Sid, who parts ways from Brooke, but just after they leave, an asteroid piece falls inside a hot spring, giving it rejuvenating properties and making the Geotopians and Sid’s grandmother, who stayed behind with them, regain their youth. After the herd returns, Manny reconciles with Julian, Peaches and Julian celebrate their wedding, Diego and Shira become heroes to the kids who were scared of them before, and a rejuvenated Brooke appears during the ceremony to reunite with Sid. In the film’s epilogue, Scrat keeps struggling to control the alien ship until it crashes on Mars, destroying all life on the planet.
The film got negative reviews for it’s storyline and familiar theme of destruction of the life on earth. It ranks as the worst-reviewed film in the series. I liked it but it isn’t as good as the first 3. I will give this a 7 outta 10!