My precioussssssss

I saw Ice Age: The Meltdown on Friday. It is an excellent movie, although it's not as good as V for Vendetta or Thank You for Smoking. (It's hard to measure up against those two films.)

As I've mentioned to several of you (probably on numerous occasions), the squirrel thingy ("Scratch") from Ice Age is the character on stage, screen, and tv with which I identify the most---and it's not even close! Scratch is always trying to get his acorn and sometimes gets ahold of it briefly (which, indeed, has led to several my preciousssssss moments in the two flicks---I love it how he reacts to anybody trying to steal his preciousssss; he suddenly knew some kung fu when the paranhas prevented him from keeping his acorn), but in general it's all rather futile and sisyfean. There's just something about the futile attempt to get acorns with which I identify mightly... The reviewer for LA Weekly felt that Scratch's schtick is the only bad part of the movie, but IMO that Schtick is the best part. I just identify with that character so much!

In looking at the credits of Ice Age 2, I realized for the first time that Seann William Scott is the voice of Scratch. Normally, he annoys the fuck out of me (in part because he plays Stifler way too often), but he does an extremely good job as Scratch. That character is by far my favorite in Ice Age, and apparently others like him as well, because his exposure was increased a lot in the sequel and he is featured on the posters. (Spoiler alert) Towards the end of the sequel, Scratch almost dies and is briefly in Heaven; he is about to otain a gigantic acorn---his Heaven is littered with tons of acorns, but he drops all the smaller ones and his eyes light up when he sees the giant acorn sparkling in the distance---when he is pulled back to life by Sid (via mouth-to-mouth resuscitation). Scratch wasn't appreciative, to say the least.

I also appreciated the Sammy Sosa reference in the film. Another thing I like about Ice Age is all the prehistoric (and fake prehistoric) creatures in it. I have a special fondness for prehistoric times (and was, in fact, a dinosaur fanatic when I was younger; my kindergarden teacher was impressed by the college-level books on dinosuars that I was occasionally reading---not that I understood a great percentage of it, but those books were meant as college-level textbooks.

There were references to a number of songs as well (although I could have managed without the R. Kelly reference). The "Food Glorious Food" rendition by the vultures was especially appreciated.

Oh, and the diety-worship and then sacrifice ["Worth a shot!"] and then re-worship of Sid by the minisloths was bloody brilliant. There was a sweet whack-a-mole reference with the possums as well.

Here's one of the good line exchanges (with a nod to Jerry McGuire, which is on my list of films to see):

Ellie: HEY!
[Ellie falls out of the tree]
Manfred: [incredulous] You really think she's the girl for me?
Sid: Sure. She's tons of fun, you're no fun. She completes you.


Something I didn't like: Queen Latifah's character in the movie annoyed me a bit. In fact, I am not so fond of her acting in general.

Anyway, I highly recommend this movie (the presence of Queen Latifah notwithstanding). And maybe, just maybe, Scratch will one day be able to keep his acorn. My preciousssssss...