THE ICE AGE ADVENTURES OF BUCK WILD

Voices of:  Vincent Tong     Aaron Harris     Utkarsh Ambudkar

Simon Pegg     Natalia Martinez     Ray Romano     Queen Latifah

This is an Ice Age adventure in the usual Disney vein.  Typically, in the franchise’s tradition, some current universal issue is addressed (e.g., climate change, its threats and others’ to animals and to earth), along with changes in relationships within small groups, like a family or a herd, facing a major threat.  This one focuses on children ready to leave home, pitting their urges against the common parental holding on, and changes that take place in relationships across time.

            In a previous version of Ice Age (e.g., Continental Drift) it is Manny (Romano) who has trouble letting his daughter Shira leave home; in Adventures of Buck Wild, it is Ellie who wants to keep their adoptee possums, Crash (Tong) and Eddie (Harris), from striking out on their own.  Various points are made about their not being ready to be on their own range from “You’re not ready” (Ellie) to “it’s about time” (Manny)—perspectives that will be familiar to all.

            As we follow the possums sneaking out to forge their own futures, we are taken with them on numerous adventures that make them question their decision to leave home, some of which are treacherous.  Notably, although they do reconnect with their old savior Buck Wild (Pegg) after entering the “Lost World”, earth’s most dangerous place where ancient dinosaurs rule, they will still go through numerous trials, concluding with the usual Disney ending when points are made about sticking together as a family/herd and care and concern about others.

            The biggest threat in this story is evidenced by Orson (Ambudkar), the animal with the big brain who wants to rule the world.  The familiar narcissistic traits of such a personality are apparent, which make it easy to dislike him.  But although autocratic regimes (accurately portrayed in this rendition) wanting power are familiar to all of us, there is little insight in this film about how to counteract such entities.  Simply resorting to old—previously relevant—strategies about sticking together or wreaking vengeance is not going to do it.  There have to be reasons for sticking together—not just something like “we’re a family.”

            This production is an example of a franchise that has outlasted its relevancy, despite its efforts to relate to the modern world.  Yes, we know about climate change and the difficulty personal relationships undergo across time, but what to do, really?  

            This is a cartoon not expected to give us profound insights, but it would have been nice to see some clever insight—even comedic—that would give us a clue.  There are encouraging statements made about change across time—its benefits as well as the anxiety it produces, and about how despite change, some elements such as a person’s basic identity remain the same.  It is a bit amusing to see how personal responsibility is modelled in the echoing arguments about “it was my fault”, “no, it was my fault.”  

However, I can’t imagine anyone maintaining interest in this franchise across all its repetitious 20-year iterations.  It’s likely that only newcomers will engage with this one, the latest.

 

Oh, to be transported to a universe—even a fanciful one—where today’s problems would be addressed intelligently.

 

Grade:  C                              By Donna R. Copeland

 

GIRLS TRIP

Regina Hall     Queen Latifah     Jada Pinkett Smith     Tiffany Haddish    

Kate Walsh     Mike Colter     Lara Grice     Larenz Tate

     Four friends decide to get together again after years of doing their own thing.  Ryan (Hall) has become famous for her book with the message that You Can Have it All, and with her football hero  husband Stewart (Colter) they make up a golden couple promoted by their agent Elizabeth (Walsh) and looking forward to their own TV talk show and product line.        They have a public engagement in New Orleans, and Ryan thinks it would be a perfect time to get the “Flossy Posse” (partying college roommates) back together for a reunion. 

      Sasha (Latifah), Lisa (Smith), and Dina (Haddish) are on board and meet up for a flashy, fun weekend in the party city.  They all have back-stories, though.  Sasha has her own blog, which digs up “dirt” about celebrities, but she’s hanging on financially by only a thin thread.  Dina has impulse control problems and has just been fired from her job.  Lisa and her two children live with her mother after Lisa’s divorce. 

     They also have colorful personalities, all very different from one another, and there is a certain amount of painful history that surfaces from time to time.  These stories are cleverly sprinkled in, so that the viewer is informed gradually.  They only come to a head towards the very end, which, to me, was the most interesting part of the film.

     But the personalities are the entertainment.  First and foremost is Dina, who has no limits as to what she will do or say, which makes her the comedian/problem for everyone.  Ryan is forceful by virtue of her success in life (which is far from stable and predictable) and her message to women about being able to have it all.  Sasha looks/acts the part of someone who has made it, but something keeps coming up about her and Ryan.  Lisa seems to have traveled backward in time, and the others have to bring her up to date in her frumpy dress, her frumpy attitude, and her obsessive nurturance.

     This mixture is dynamite in New Orleans where everything the filmmakers could dream up in raucous comedy, embarrassing situations, and friendship brinkmanship gets played.  To spice it up even more, cameo appearances by Common, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Ava DuVernay, Mariah Carey and their groups blitz the screen.  The jokes don’t always come across well, but there are so many, one can overlook those few.

     Girls Trip will be savored more by those whose culture is represented by the characters.  The audience in the screening I attended was optimally interactive, applauding, making comments, and groaning throughout.  As a white woman of a certain age, I sat through most of it interested, but not engaged, up until the concluding scenes when the characters developed more insight into their friendship and its value.  That is the substantive point of the whole film; that underneath everything, above all, is friendship.  I can certainly go along with that!

    Director Malcolm D. Lee, wanting to avoid black female stereotypes, highlights the genuine warmth among the women.  They fight and argue, but not for long, and they always make up.  The four talented main actresses (Hall, Latifah, Smith, Haddish) are funny and entertaining, deftly showing off their skills.  Walsh and Colter lend strong supporting roles. 

A raunchy, raucous indulgence that eventually gets to what most of us value in life.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE

Voices of:  Ray Romano   Queen Latifah   Keke Palmer   Adam Devine   John Leguizamo  

Denis Leary   Simon Pegg   Jennifer Lopez   Wanda Sykes   Neil DeGrasse Tyson

          This is the seventh in a series of Ice Age films, and is largely empty animation and special effects without much of a story.  My interest was piqued when I saw that Neil DeGrasse Tyson was going to be one of the voices in the film, in hopes that it would have some educational value; but alas, it is a hodge-podge of story lines with tired themes like broken hearts, forgetting an anniversary, and a father reluctant to let his daughter grow up and forge her own path.  There was only one scene that went against stereotype, and that was the father-daughter (it’s usually a son) competition on an ice hockey rink.  Manny (Romano) is certain he can best his daughter Peaches (Palmer) handily—and tries to make out like he actually did, but she is the clear winner.

        A bit of novelty is seen in the efforts to avert a killer meteor coming to destroy the animals’ home, and Tyson as Neil deBuck Weasel (I like the play on his name) explains in scientific terms how to use magnetic forces to throw it off course.  It’s too bad the filmmakers didn’t expand this sequence and make it the heart of the movie instead of silly love stories. 

       As in all the Ice Age films I have seen, the squirrel creature Scrat (Chris Wedge) appears in the beginning and reappears periodically hugging and chasing his acorn, swarming all around space to introduce and supplement the animation and special effects.  Next we hear about the mammoth family [Manny, Ellie (Queen Latifah), and Peaches] and get the update that Peaches is engaged to Julian (Devine), who is eager to join the family and impress the reluctant Manny.  They’re friends with lions Diego (Leary) and Shira (Lopez), who are wanting to be parents. 

      There is a digression to a yoga fitness community, Geotopia, where Shangri Lama (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) is in charge and where Granny (Sykes) is discovered to be enjoying yoga and massages. 

        But Sid (Leguizamo) as the local scientist is giving fair warning that a meteor that will obliterate them is coming.  After Neil deBuck Weasel instructs them about what they need to do, the animals band together to avert the strike.

        Not much of anything is new and fresh in this production, which should be a message to the writers (Michael J. Wilson, Michael Berg, Yoni Brenner), directors Galen T. Chu and Mike Thurmeier, and producer Lori Forte to hang up the franchise.

Uninspired 7^th iteration of the Ice Age franchise.

Grade:  D-                                    By Donna R. Copeland