Ice Age: Continental Drift

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

Never mind that the freshness of the original Ice Age and its main characters Manny (Ray Romano), Diego (Denis Leary), and Sid (John Leguizamo) has dissipated. How many series could sustain themselves at all through a fourth iteration?

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.

Feels less like Ice Age 4 than Ice Age 1.4.

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

The writers of this stale franchise hit the same tired beats over and over again and the bored voice talent can practically be heard endorsing their checks as they lackadaisically read their lines.

Unless you've got little kids you need to entertain for an hour-and-a-half, don't waste any time on [this].

Ice Age: Continental Drift isn't much more than a paint-by-numbers animated feature with a positive, pro-family message.

Just sort of sits on the screen, going through the motions for 90 minutes or so. It's neither good nor bad and, unless you are under the age of 8, you'll likely forget it by the time you get home.

This is the low-temperature family romp that Happy Feet 2 should have been.