Ice Age (U) is another Disneyesque animated feature hard on the heels of Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and Shrek. It actually has little to do with the Ice Age and more to do with a prehistoric mammoth, sloth and tiger trying to return a baby boy to his tribe.

Like Shrek, it is essentially a buddy movie. The sloth wants to team up with the mammoth, the mammoth is having none of it, but fate throws them together anyway and so on and so on.

The introduction of the tiger and its ambiguous motives (he is really supposed to be leading the pair and the baby into a tiger ambush) adds some spice to the mix.

The film is far heavier on the schmaltz and the jokes are farther apart than any of its computer-created rivals but it does have its moments.

The film has a neat running joke about a squirrel-like creature that is trying to get its gnashers on an acorn but is foiled at every turn.

Needless to say the animation is superb, even though you'd have to say creating endless icebound landscapes is easy, you just use lots of white.