ICE AGE: CONTINENTIAL DRIFT

year: 2012 voices: Andy Romano, Peter Dinklage, Denis Leary rating: ***

After the continental drift separates Manny from his woolly family, with voices straight out of a modern sitcom and never once putting you into a world gone past, there’s a sigh of relief – at least from this reviewer. Because the three main characters: Manny the Mammoth, Diego the Saber tooth, and Sid the Sloth, drift off alone: exactly how it should be.

Then something terrible happens...

Sid’s toothless granny is a stowaway, even more annoying than Manny’s teenage lovelorn daughter who, back on the dangerously altering homeland, deals with coming of age issues…

But back to the good stuff...

Manny and gang are pitted against a pirate Baboon (voiced by Peter Dinklage), and what's left are creative and involving battles. Simple, sure, but entertaining. And then there’s that nut-seeking squirrel, providing adventurous comic relief short breaks.

Sadly, most were seen a year ago in the prolonged trailers. Making the pirate story that much fresher.