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Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 46 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Family/Kids | Romance
Written by:
Michael Berg
Peter Ackerman
Directed by:
Carlos Saldanha
Michael Thurmeier
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 1, 2009
DVD: October 27, 2009
Running Time: 94 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for some mild rude humor and peril
Starring Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg, and Queen Latifah
The sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters Ice Age and Ice Age: The Meltdown are back, on an incredible adventure...and in 3-D. This time, they’re beneath the ice, discovering a world of dinosaurs. (20th Century Fox)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Ice Age Ice Age: The Meltdown Robots
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It involves some of the best use of 3-D I've seen in an animated feature. It also introduces a masterstroke that essentially allows the series to take place anywhere: There is this land beneath the surface of the earth, you see...
Read Full Review >NPR Bob Mondello
Unlike say, "Monsters Vs. Aliens," which would have been nothing at all without its special-effects spectacle, this is a sweet little comedy, both family-friendly and centered on a nontraditional family, and so suitable for pretty much everyone.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
There is much more of an emphasis on action in this nicely crafted, fast-paced sequel, which at its best shares the antic qualities of classic Warner Bros. cartoons.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
With appreciably greater emphasis on action than its predecessors, and clever use of 3-D trickery to enhance storytelling as well as offer spectacle, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs could prove the third time really is the charm.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The movie settles into a mode of nice, sweet, safe, and -- sorry, I have to say it -- slightly dull family fun.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
If "Up" is the animated equivalent of an ice cream sundae, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is the Popsicle: Neither as rich nor as memorable, but more than welcome on a long, hot summer day.
Read Full Review >Empire James Dyer
Long-in-the-tooth characters detract from the usual high-spirited fun and frolics.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The series kept it going for one more entry, but throws its commitment to the era away with movie number three, a ploy sure to anger Ice Age purists everywhere.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Not even 3D can save this third entry in the Fox animation franchise about a motley crew of prehistoric creatures.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Hasn't got a lot more to say than it did last time about the necessity of accepting the nontraditional family in extraordinary times, but what it does have going for it are its well-delineated characters.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Will satisfy its young fan base and is bound to make a ton of money. At this point, though, the series is no longer an artistic pursuit; it's a business deal.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
A sometimes lively, sometimes listless wilderness adventure that will keep the kids cool and mildly entertained for a little while.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Once fresh, the story is now buried under a hoary coating.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Couldn't the creative minds at the 20th Century Fox animation studios, hoping to wring a few hundred million dollars more out of their prized family-animation franchise, have come up with something more original?
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Pretty much any sign of creative life gets left out in the cold in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the monotonous, strictly by-the-numbers third edition of the wildly lucrative digitally animated franchise.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Never representative of more than mediocrity from a technical or story-based standpoint, the Ice Age series has reached a new nadir with its third entry.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Not bad, not good, Ice Age 3 may be OK enough to do what it was engineered to do, i.e., baby-sit your kid for a while and rake in the dough.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
There is no faulting the big set pieces, which are shot and edited skillfully. But without involving characters to go along with them, those sequences make for awfully empty movie calories.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Janice Page
It's mostly flat, despite being presented in 3-D, and the writing is so unimaginative that at one point a character yells out "yabba dabba doo!"
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
You should have been able to treat this film as a grab-bag and pull out some plums. Instead it goes grabbing after you.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Though there are chases galore and stampeding dinos aplenty, Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a nicely rendered travelogue without storytelling. There is little to bring an audience along for the ride.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
There's no breathing life into a formula that ought to have bowed out gracefully while the going was good.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
There’s also a sense of ineptness in a script that constantly reaches, with only modest success, for amusing things that the mammoths and their friends can do.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Scrat's annoying ubiquity -- is just one piece of evidence that Dawn of the Dinosaurs has been focus-grouped and is now trying to please its presumed young audience a little more than is healthy.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Every character is like the hyperactive rat-squirrel Scrat, and the audience is bounced around like his elusive acorn.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 46 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
CriticVidal gave it a1:
This movie sucks as my ass does. I would have scored it a 3, but the characters just...ticked me off.
Chris C gave it a5:
It just didn't feel like a fully-fledged sequel to me. More like some kind of inane side story. Like two back-to-back episodes of a TV series. Occasionally it felt strained but it had its moments. The plot itself requires heavy suspension of disbelief and the screenplay doesn't do an amazing job of easing you into it.
Jimmy J gave it a10:
Oh yeah! This plot is pure genius!!!! I'm 18 and I loved it. T his was well worth it it just sucks that i got kicked out five minutes into the movie because they realized I was the guy who was banned for throwing popcorn at the scree and dancing in front of it while i was watching ORphan.
Jayson L. gave it a0:
Am i the only one thinking that it shouldn't be ice age - dawn of the dinosaurs? Dinos were before the ice age. This movie is just ridiculous.
V F gave it a9:
I went into the AMC expecting a shitflick (I have bad experience with sequels), but it turned out to be a high quality movie with an appreciable plot and lots of humor. The only thing that spoiled it was the hordes of little kids in the audience that refused to shut up.
Stan M gave it a2:
Ice Age has worn out its welcome. The humor is dry, boring and if you're an adult sitting through this - you'll be thoroughly bored unless you still find humor from the 70's, 80's and 90's Saturday cartoon funny. The characters, especially the opossums and the new rodent (can't remember what he was... and honestly don't care) are mind numbingly annoying and even the Saber Tooth played by Leary doesn't even seem into his character anymore. There were kids in the theater who seemed even bored by it - running around playing tag about halfway through. The 3D is the gimmick kind, IE: people pointing at the screen, etc. Pixar has definitely mastered 3D in subtle ways with their recent release of Up, Ice Age 3D - however - seems to fall in the same category as Shrek the Third or the utterly horrendous Monsters Vs. Aliens. After seeing this - I'm ready for a meteor to end this series. Final Note: The plot and how they eventually get to this dino world is absolutely ridiculous. Dumb even for a childrens film.
Seri E gave it a10:
The first 20 minutes or so are boring as hell, and will have you wanting to leave the theatre. However, once the gang goes underground into the dinosaur world it starts to get really interesting and funny. 3 new characters are added them being Buck (a weasel who lives in the underground dinosaur world trying to kill the biggest, baddest dinosaur Rudy) Peaches (Manny and Ellie's daughter) and the nameless squirel rat thing who plays the love of Scrat. In fact, the one thing I hated about this movie was that Scrat became incredibly boring. Oh well, it was a pretty awesome movie and I definetely recommend it to any fan of the series, kids, or even adults! Oh and by the way, you don't need to see it in 3D for it to be good. AND, I personally think it's the best of the trilogy.
