7/12/12

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Okaaaaay... Third outing of a PG-rated franchise.... But this one has the VERY BEST FINAL CREDITS ... EVER! I've complained about final credits and cheered when we are given the name, the face and the character. This time we SEE the characters and the actors wearing headsets as they record their voices:
  • Chris Wedge (a professional voice actor) is the familiar Scratt, our frustrated little guy who is on an eternal quest for that elusive acorn. He inadvertently starts the breakup of Pangaea, the origi- nal single landmass that eventually divided into the continents as we know them today.
  • Ray Romano ("Ice Age" franchise) is Manny the daddy mam- moth, separated from his family by the splitting of the land mass. He is on an ice floe and is frantically trying to reach a land bridge in time to rejoin them.
  • Queen Latifah ("Joyful Noise") is Ellie, the distaff side of the mammoth couple and Mama to Peaches.
  • Keke Palmer ("Akeelah and the Bee") is Peaches, their adven- turous daughter whose best friend is a mole...
  • Josh Gad ("Love and Other Drugs") voices Louis, the (sorta) mole/hedgehog who is Peaches' best friend. The animation for this little guy is awesome, because the emotions are so subtle.
  • Nicki Minaj ("Glee") is Steffie, one of the gang of adolescent mammoths who exclude Peaches.
  • Denis Leary ("The Amazing Spider-Man") is Diego the lovesick saber-tooth tiger with the soft heart.
  • Jennifer Lopez ("The Back-up Plan") is Shira the lovely saber- tooth pirate who has captured Diego's affections.
  • John Leguizamo ("The Lincoln Lawyer") is Sid the hapless sloth, saddled with the responsibility of trying to keep Granny out of trouble.
  • Wanda Sykes ("Rio") is Granny, who is so hard of hearing she thinks "We are fa-mi-lee" is really "We are ham and cheese." (Children loved that!)
  • Peter Dinklage ("Game of Thrones") plays Captain Gutt, an ape who really needs to brush his teeth! This tipped us off that he was very, very, bad!
The children in the screening audience were engaged, vocal and appre- ciative all the way through. Of course the adults laughed too, but the children had a blast.
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Here is a link to a preview:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2524815897/
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