(detailed information about this entry from Wikipedia)
| Rated |
PG for some mild language and innuendo
G (original rating)
TV-G (TV rating) |
Ice Age: The Meltdown (also known as Ice Age 2: The Meltdown in some international releases), was the 2006 film sequel to the computer-animated 2002 film Ice Age. It was produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox, and was released in movie theatres around March 31, 2006. It was directed by Carlos Saldanha, co-director of the original Ice Age, and the music is done by Robots composer, John Powell.
Taglines:
- Kiss your nuts goodbye (Picture of Scrat with acorn)
- The countdown to the meltdown will begin.
- The chill is gone.
- Kiss your ice goodbye.
- The pack is back.
- A new age is coming.
- He never thaw it coming.
- Save your nut (Picture of Scrat with acorn)
- Get a grip on your nut
Characters
Just as in the original, prehistoric animals are the focus of the story. Returning in their original roles are:
Joining them this time in their adventures are:
Some characters that they meet along the way are:
and attempting to stop them from their goals are:
Plot
In the opening scene, the Ice Age critters are having a ball in their new world full of tar pits and geysers. However, global warming had caused a flood, and it is kept from destroying the valley only by the glaciers, which have formed a dam. Time is running out, and as soon as a vulture tells the animals a boat (actually a giant piece of a fallen tree) can lead them to safety, they set off in a rush to find it.
As this happens, the trio accidentally breaks off a piece of the glacier, which contains Cretaceous, a prehistoric crocodile from the Mesozoic and Maelstrom, a prehistoric fish from the Paleozoic, that had been frozen in the now melting glacier, and break free. They plan to eat the critters in the meltdown, as it goes along.
Along the way, Manny becomes depressed when other animals (especially Sid) tease him about being the last mammoth alive. Manny wishes to be alone, leaving Diego and Sid to follow two annoying opossums, Crash and Eddie. Manny comes across the opossum’s “sister”, a female mammoth named Ellie who believes she is an opossum. Manny has a hard time convincing her she is a mammoth, a task he must perform if they are to save the species from extinction.
Along the way, Sid finds out that Diego is afraid of water. Sid is also kidnapped by a tribe of mini-sloths (they resemble Magetherium in appaerance, but resemble three-toed sloths in size) who call him the Fire King and attempt to sacrifice him to a volcano to save themselve from the meltdown.
In time, Manny saves Ellie from drowning, while Diego overcomes his fear of water to save Sid. All was about to be ruined when Cretaceous and Maelstrom came about attempting to eat the animals, but, due to Manny's quick thinking, were soon finished off by a rock which fell atop them in the pursuit of the mammoths. (The essential guide says that thay were later eaten by mini-sloths) While all this happens, the other animals are taken on a death ride on the "boat" as it floats about, and almost are headed to a certain fate.
Scrat, a prehistoric fictional sabre-toothed squirrel (that has a rat's long snout) who is desperate for an acorn battles piranhas, gets trapped under a sheet of ice, fights a baby eagle, and finally almost kills himself, accidentally diverting the meltdown and unwittingly saving the valley in the process.
In the final scene, a herd of mammoths shows up, removing the need for Manny and Ellie to mate and proving to other animals that mammoths are not extinct; however, love triumphs and they decide to remain together anyway, taking Sid, Diego, and the opossum brothers along.
The epilogue shows Scrat having a near death experience after falling off of the crack he has opened (which diverted the flood and saved the animals). He enters a heaven full of acorns. He sees a gigantic acorn, reaches for it and nearly grabs it. Suddenly, he finds himself torn away from heaven. He wakes up in the arms of Sid, who had resuscitated him, taken his acorn, and proceeds to attack his savior.
Trivia
- The working title for this movie was Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. For the movie's final release, the creators decided to remove the number 2, calling it Ice Age: The Meltdown, as they considered the movie not a sequel but an entirely new movie. However, in the UK, Ireland, Mexico, and Australia, its title is promoted as Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. Also, most of the sponsors of the movie had the 2 in their packaging after the name change (They however did edit the two out of their TV ads).
- The idea of the animals avoiding the flood by getting to an ark is similar to the story in the Bible, Noah's Ark.
- In its opening weekend, the film made $68 million, making it the biggest opening weekend in March and the second biggest opening outside of the summer and holiday release periods.
- For a brief moment, before Scrat enters heaven, a chorus of Dodos appears and vanishes, possibly alluding to the Dodos from the first movie.
- The movie contains a spoof from Saving Private Ryan, where Manny is hit by a geyser and temporarily loses his hearing. Incidentally, the German voice for Manny, Arne Elsholtz, also synchronizes Tom Hanks, who also stars in that movie, which creates an insider joke by happenstance in the German version.
- Although dodos supposedly went extinct in Ice Age, a dodo is seen when Manny, Sid and Diego are trying to get past the geysers. (But it is blown up and turns into a roast dodo, so it still dies).
Promotions
- As an additional marketing ploy a special "anti-cell" spot was created with Sid complaining to the audience about a ringing cellular phone. The same was done for Brother Bear, I, Robot, and Robots (another Blue Sky Studios film).
- Burger King Ice Age: The Meltdown Toys
- Yetisports Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown special games
- In India, An Ice Age character comes free with every box of Kelloggs Chocos.
- On Family Guy's episode Sibling Rivalry, In one scene, Scrat is shown trying to take 3 nuts out of a side of a glacier, in which Peter shows up and tries to stop him, admonishing the squirrel for stealing, which drives Scrat to subsequently attack Peter. Apart from Peter, the scene was done in 3D, and Scrat was voiced by Chris Wedge who voices him in the films. The episode originally aired the week before the film opened. Fox aired promotions for the movie throughout the evening.
- During the same evening the Family Guy episode played with Scrat's cameo, Sid was hosting the entire FOX line-up, showing up in intermittent times between commercials.
- A teaser trailer for The Simpsons Movie was attached to the movie on every print of the movie, despite rumors that it was only on some prints.
- Re-edited scenes of Ice Age: The Meltdown were shown in Air Heads candy commercials on several kids channels and programs, such as the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, ABC Kids on ABC, and more. It shows, in part, after Scrat defeats a school of piranha, he takes an Air Head packet (replaced by an acorn in the actual movie) proudly, when suddenly an eagle comes over and swipes it from him.
Box Office
The film opened on March 31, 2006, and exceeded expectations by opening with an $68.7 million in it's first weekend, the second biggest opening for a non-summer non-holiday release, after The Passion of the Christ.
As of May 14, 2006, the film has grossed a total of $187,570,805 in the United States box office, making it the first movie in 2006 to pass the $100 million mark at the box office.
In the Netherlands, the film grossed €152,262 in its first week, not enough to enter the top 10. In its second week (March 30 - April 5), the film debuted at #1, grossing over €1,350,375, kicking Inside Man from its #1 position there. In total, the film grossed €3.700.341 in the Netherlands.[1]
Quotes
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
The film grossed a massive $597,719,746 worldwide according to thenumbers.com, surpassing all expectations and netting the film a massive profit given the moderate budget of $75 million.
Animals Featured
External links
Plot at The Movie Spoiler
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Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) 
Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
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Ice Age 2 (2006) (USA)
