Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012)

All Critics (132) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (84) | DVD (2)

Yes, this is the part where I outsource my critical role to my children. If you are the kind of person who (quite understandably) abhors this particular gimmick, you may wish to stop reading now.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

Christopher Orr

The Atlantic

Top Critic

The best bits are basic and all but voiceless: those Scrat-intensive set pieces, still inspiredly squirrelly if much too far apart.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

Jonathan Kiefer

Village Voice

Top Critic

These films are generally good at being good enough, and the fourth installment, Ice Age: Continental Drift, doesn't deviate from that modest tradition.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

William Goss

Film.com

Top Critic

In the end, this latest "Ice Age" movie is about as surprising and unpredictable as a glacier. And not much more fun.

July 13, 2012 Full Review | Comments (2)

Stephen Whitty

Newark Star-Ledger

Top Critic

Whenever I watch an "Ice Age" movie, I understand how my mother felt whenever I zoned out in front of the television after school.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

Rafer Guzman

Newsday

Top Critic

Popping from one silly set piece to another is all that really concerns the screenwriters.

July 13, 2012 Full Review

Kyle Smith

New York Post

Top Critic

The swashbuckling stuff is boisterous, if dated, and proves far more engaging than a tedious sub-plot involving Manny's rebellious teenage daughter.

January 10, 2013 Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

The first "Ice Age" is still the best, but as fabricated and Saturday morning as this installment is, it's still an accomplished bit of animated filmmaking.

December 14, 2012 Full Review

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

Much like Madagascar, this animated talking animal series with a star-studded voice cast seems to be just coasting along, all too willing to recycle past plotlines and jokes, hoping families aren't offended enough to stop showing up.

December 11, 2012 Full Review

Phil Villarreal

OK! Magazine

Here the franchise that recycles other kids' movies recycles itself.

December 10, 2012 Full Review

Cynthia Fuchs

Time to Play Magazine

The beautiful animation and wonderful character design continue to impress, but the seafaring action is sunk by sub-sitcom-level lessons about family and friendship.

November 26, 2012 Full Review

John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Apparently Fox are making a fifth, and people wonder what's pushing originality out of Hollywood.

September 30, 2012 Full Review

Sam Bathe

Fan The Fire

This is simply the case of a series that has fully run its course without anywhere left to go.

September 14, 2012 Full Review

Jeff Beck

Examiner.com

There have been far worse children's films than Ice Age: Continental Drift, even this year, but few that make me so depressed about Hollywood's utter contempt for young moviegoers.

September 14, 2012 Full Review

Jonathan Lack

We Got This Covered

[Teaches] the children of the world all the clichés that they will rapidly come to despise over the course of the following decades.

August 21, 2012 Full Review

William Bibbiani

CraveOnline

The difference between mild endorsement and a dismissive "ehh" technically isn't part of the movie. It's the 5-minute short subject preceding Continental Drift, a wordless gem titled The Longest Daycare starring Maggie Simpson.

August 13, 2012 Full Review

Steve Persall

Tampa Bay Times

moves quickly, is well directed, and from time to time achieves some real suspense. If it also shows how the franchise is wearing a little thin, it also shows why it has lasted this long.

August 9, 2012 Full Review

Andrea Chase

Killer Movie Reviews

Let's make this one extinct.

August 7, 2012 Full Review

Grae Drake

Movies.com

...everything I liked about the original movie has been worn down.

August 3, 2012 Full Review

Leonard Maltin

indieWIRE

... worthless junk, just like the three worthless movies that came before it.

July 30, 2012 Full Review | Comments (4)

Jim Lane

Sacramento News & Review

The "Ice Age" franchise runs out of steam with a narratively inert example of animated fluff.

July 28, 2012 Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Contains more than enough high energy hi-jinks to keep distractible kiddies entertained.

July 27, 2012 Full Review

Tom Clift

Moviedex

Kids will love this film and parents won't be bored for a minute.

July 26, 2012 Full Review

Bruce Bennett

Spectrum (St. George, Utah)

Fossilized in a syrupy, always-stick-by-your-family-and-friends formula. Scrat provides the only constant humour. The surrealism and manic slapstick that animation can do so well are dwarfed by adventures with pirates and a clichéd teen-fitting-in story.

July 24, 2012 Full Review

Brian Gibson

Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

More solid, at least, than the ice on which its characters float, 'Ice Age: Continental Drift' is a fun fourth installment of the popular franchise that has charmed its fans for years.

July 20, 2012 Full Review

Linda Cook

Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

A hollow simulation of what fun for the whole family looks and sounds like.

July 19, 2012 Full Review

Mark Pfeiffer

Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

• 1. Captain Gutt: Grab your weapons, mates! Not the spoon, Flynn.
  – Submitted by Matthew R (4 months ago)
• 1. Squint: Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of cool with me, Captain.
  2. Squint: Out of my way, saber. You answer to me now.
  – Submitted by Matthew R (4 months ago)
• 1. Ellie: Any questions?
  2. Baby Bird: Ooh-ooh!
  3. Ellie: Yes.
  4. Baby Bird: When you drink water from your trunk does it taste like boogers?
  5. Ellie: Ah no... well sometimes.
  – Submitted by Matthew R (4 months ago)
• 1. Sid: Yippee! We're being rescued, we're being rescued!
  – Submitted by Matthew R (4 months ago)
• 1. Granny: What are you Peeping Toms looking at!
  – Submitted by Matthew R (4 months ago)
• 1. Louis: Ah sir, she wasn't alone.
  2. Manny: You don't count weenier!
  3. Louis: There's my spot and you just put me in it.
  – Submitted by Matthew R (4 months ago)