'Ice Age' plot is old as hills

Nobody seems to be working too hard in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."

Yeah, it's computer-animated, but nothing startling. OK, it's 3-D, but passable 3-D at best. Sure the characters are familiar and the voices are professional, but there's very little fire here. The kids will enjoy it; their parents will get through it.

It says something about a movie when the funniest, most energetic character has nothing to do with the central plot, and that's been the case with all three "Ice Age" movies as the is-it-a-squirrel Scrat's exploits to capture an acorn, featured as introduction and transitory sequences, are the best things on the screen. In this film, Scrat gets a love interest, a twist that makes his quick adventures even more fun.

But back to the main characters. Manny (Ray Romano) the wooly mammoth has managed to impregnate Ellie (Queen Latifah), and they're waiting for their child to arrive. Meanwhile, Diego (Denis Leary) the saber-toothed tiger is suffering from existential angst and set to wander off on his own.

All this changes when Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) discovers some dinosaur eggs in a deep cave and takes on a mothering role when the eggs hatch. But soon the kids' real dino-mother shows up roaring and takes her babies, and Sid, down to a hidden underground land where dinos still roam.

At which point Manny, Ellie, Diego et al set off to rescue Sid. Adventures and sporadic hilarity ensue, especially when a heroic weasel named Buck (Simon Pegg) shows up.

The lost land of dinosaurs plot line has probably been around since, well, dinosaurs. Which means it works, but it's worn, and the same can be said for the "Ice Age" franchise. In the end you wish somebody had tried a bit harder.

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