Story
The third film in the animated Ice Age trilogy begins with Ellie (Queen Latifa) and Manny (Ray Romano) expecting their first mammoth baby. As the couple prepare excitedly for their new arrival, Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) question their roles in the herd that they have grown to love. They wonder whether this is the time for them to explore the world.
Diego leaves to search for adventure and to capture his disappearing youth. Sid finds trouble when he adopts three abandoned eggs to create a ready-made family. Chaos ensues when the eggs hatch and three baby dinosaurs are born. Sid loves his new role as ‘Mummy’ but things get complicated when the dinosaurs’ real mother comes searching for her babies. She angrily takes the babies and Sid into a hidden dinosaur world under the ice.
Themes
Abandonment; family breakdown
Violence
This movie includes some violence and accidental harm. For example:
Sexual references
This movie includes a few scenes that feature sexual innuendo between the adult animals. For example:
- Sid pulls on the teat of a large mammoth so he can get some milk to feed his adopted baby dinosaurs. When the mammoth looks at him with alarm, Sid realises that the mammoth is a male and that he is not pulling on the mammoth’s teat.
- Buck states to the group that he knew the butterfly when he was a caterpillar, before he ‘came out’.
- Buck boasts that he ‘turned the T-Rex into a T-Rachel’.
- When the baby mammoth is born, one of the animals says, ‘It’s a boy’. Manny corrects the animal, saying, ‘That’s its tail’.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None of concern
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
None of concern
Coarse language
None of concern
Ideas to discuss with your children
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is an animated adventure similar to the first two films in the Ice Age trilogy. This movie also features 3-D technology. It is fast-paced and likely to keep young and older viewers entertained.
The main message from this movie is that families come in all shapes and sizes and should stick together.
Values in this movie that you might wish to reinforce with your children include:
- standing by your friends and family
- bravery
- the bond between parents and children.
This movie could also give you the opportunity to discuss with your children the real-life consequences of adoption.