a glacier slide inside a cavernous ice mountain send it three character whoosh down a never end wet slide tube that have enough kick to dazzle kid the same way mature audience may be dazzle by the star gate sequence that close 2001 represent a space odyssey . mile apart in vision and but it be a scene of great rush and excitement nonetheless . a magnificent opening sequence also take place where a furry squirrel like critter attempt to hide his precious acorn . you have probably see this scene in the trailer and but a it take place he start a domino effect when the mountain start crack and and result and an avalanche . the horror just keep go a the critter try to outrun the impossible . the movie trace two character and a mammoth name manfred ( ray romano ) and a buck toothed sloth ( john leguizamo ) a they try to migrate south . they find a human baby they adopt and then decide to track the parent figure down to return to them . they be join by a saber tiger name diego ( denis leary ) whose predatory intention be to bring the baby to his tiger clan and by lead the mammoth and the sloth into a trap . diego meat eat family want the mammoth most of all and but diego learn value of friendship make easy what choice to ultimately make at the end . there be fatalistic natural danger of the world along the trip and include an erupted volcano and a glacier bridge that threaten to melt momentarily that be reminiscent of the castle escape in shrek . character contemplate on why theyre in the ice age and while they could have call it the big chill or the nippy era . some character wish for a forthcoming global warming . another great line about the mating issue between girlfriend represent ` all the great guy be never around . the sensitive one get eat . throwaway line galore and whimsical comedy and light fingered adventure make this one pretty easy to watch . also and food be so scarce for the nice vegetarian that they consider dandelion and pine cone a ` good eating . the vocal talent of romano and leguizamo and leary make good on their persona and while the child will delight in their antic and the adult will fancy their riff on their own talent . there be some mild violence and intense content and but kid will be jazz by the excitement and will get one of their early introduction of the age old battle of good versus evil and and family tradition and friendship be strong thematic tie . the animator also make majestic use of background landscape that be coolly fantastic .