Ice Age 4: Movie Review

Ice Age films have a certain rhythm to them – Sid the sloth wreaks havoc, Manny the mammoth finds something to be incredibly stubborn about, and Diego the saber-toothed tiger ends up defending his masculinity. Oh, and a certain rodent doggedly pursues an oversized acorn through the dangers of a primeval world. Ice Age 4: Continental Drift delivers in every respect, while deepening its message of family over fleeting success.

Manny, Sid and Diego have already survived immense ice thaws, the dawn of the dinosaurs, and the arrival of man. Now they must survive the onset of continental drift – yes it seems there’s no epoch its writers aren’t prepared to squeeze into the life span of a single animal. This time though, it’s not just their species that’s under threat, but their concept of 'kin'. Manny and Ellie’s daughter Peaches has grown up to be the mammoth version of a precocious teenager. Her father would prefer her to herd with her own kind, but she’s taken a liking to Louis, a prehistoric possum.

However, the disintegration of their continent puts his fatherly advice on hold. While trying to get his family to safety, Manny, Sid and Diego find themselves marooned on a piece of ice, headed out to sea. There they encounter the series’ new villain, Captain Gutt, an ape turned pirate who is makes them an offer they can’t refuse: join his crew or become their next meal. Manny’s response?

Manny: Nothing is going to keep me from my family. 
Gutt: That family is going to be the death of you.

The Ice Age Family

Not surprisingly, ‘family’ proves once again to be our trio’s salvation. Many and Diego continue to talk down to Sid in a way that no parent would like to encourage, but producers Blue Sky Studios continue to maintain that actions speak louder than words. Captain Gutt makes it quite clear that he’s only interested in people who serve his purposes, whereas Diego points out to a female sabretooth pirate that his friends are interested in relationships over returns:

Diego: You know the difference between you and me? We may both have wanted out of pack life, but I got something different – a herd.
Shira: What’s the difference?
Diego: We’ve got each other's backs.

This is the image of 'family' Ice Age is selling. As the theme song goes, “It doesn’t matter what it looks like, it looks perfect to me because we are family.” Occupations, divorce, the tyranny of distance, all encourage us to choose new families from the friends that present themselves, and the key factor for membership is their commitment to us. On the surface, this is not such a bad thing. Christians understand perfectly the bonds that faith form, which often prove stronger than family ties. My only hesitation in recommending that perspective is the height to which it raises the individual’s choices.

We live in a world where gay marriage is increasingly on the agenda, with the supporting argument boiling down to ‘they love each other, so why not?’ Ice Age 4 neatly sidesteps the issue, that no matter how much Peaches likes Louis, natural selection will not result in a future for a mammoth and a possum. Likewise, our ability to choose people to add to our family does not provide us with the right to exclude those God has selected. Our hearts have to enlarge, not simply switch their affections. God chose our difficult relatives as surely as He sent those friends who bring us comfort. That’s why I find the Ice Age philosophy a little too easy. If love only extends as far as those who remain committed to us, it falls far short of Jesus’ command to “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”

Watching Ice Age 4 with your kids

There’s nothing to be terribly afraid of in Ice Age 4, unless you have an aversion to listening to jokes you’re certain you’ve heard before. However it’s designed for primary school kids and they’re certain to love the smash-and-crash humour. Afterwards, why not ask one of the following:

• What makes Manny, Sid and Diego a family?
• Why doesn’t Captain Gutt care about his crew the same way?
• How can I show my family and friends I care about them – even when they don’t show much care for me?

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