Ice Age Buck Wild: The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022)

Ice Age Buck Wild starts with an avalanche that Crash and Eddie cause by accident, and the damage ruins the herd's summer home. Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie doubt that the two possum brothers can look after themselves, so Crash and Eddie leave camp to prove the older members of the herd wrong. It is a familiar family argument, the kind where the youngest storm off before anyone has finished the sentence, and it gives the film a simple first act.

Their walk takes them into the Lost World, a land full of dinosaurs, where raptors chase them almost at once. The rescue comes from their old friend Buck, the weasel with one eye, and that is where the real adventure begins. Simon Pegg has voiced Buck since Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), and here the character moves from supporting act to lead.

If you are new to the saga, the film is easy to follow without the earlier movies, although our guide to ice age movies in order shows exactly where it lands. The official ratings are PG in the US, U in the UK and PG in Australia, so it is a reasonable pick for a family evening with younger children.

In Ice Age Buck Wild, Crash and Eddie accidentally cause an avalanche that ruins the herd's summer habitat, and the older members of the herd doubt that the brothers can cope alone. The two leave to show they can, and they stumble into the Lost World, where raptors go after them and Buck saves them.

Buck explains the trouble that has been building there. Orson, a small Protoceratops, was once banished for his ambitions, and he has now come back with a pack of raptors and wants to rule the land. His raptors take over the watering hole, and Buck is captured.

That leaves Crash and Eddie to lead the rescue. They team up with Zee and a Tyrannosaurus called Momma, and the herd joins the fight, so Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie end up helping the brothers rather than rescuing them from their own mistakes. The plan that turns the battle uses fire-breathing lizards, which Crash and Eddie use to turn Orson's raptors against him.

Orson is beaten and the Lost World is safe again. Crash and Eddie decide to stay and live there, and the rest of the herd promises to visit them often. The film also works as a pilot for the Buck Wild series.

Ice Age Buck Wild premiered on Disney+ in the US on January 28, 2022, as a streaming original with no theatrical opening. Disney's announcement ahead of the date came with a trailer and a poster for the film.

The US date is the only release date confirmed for the film. It now streams on Disney Plus in the UK and Australia as well.

For trailer links, see ice age boiling point trailer, which collects the studio videos across the series.

The ending of Ice Age Buck Wild is simple on the surface: the fire-breathing lizards turn Orson's raptors against him, his attempt to take over the Lost World collapses, and Crash and Eddie choose to stay there. Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie promise to visit often.

What does it mean? In my opinion, the clearest reading is that the story is about growing up rather than about beating a villain. The brothers leave camp because the herd doubts them, and the film then answers that doubt scene by scene. Buck is captured and the raptors hold the watering hole, so the herd has to follow Crash and Eddie into a fight the brothers understand better than anyone. They team up with Zee and the Tyrannosaurus called Momma, and the lizard trick is theirs, not Manny's. Winning an argument by saving a whole world makes staying a choice rather than a punishment. It could be argued that the herd's promise to visit often is the film's way of showing that the trust has finally been earned.

Orson matters here too. Buck explains that the small Protoceratops was once banished for his ambitions, so he is a mirror for the brothers: another young animal who was told he was not ready. The difference is that Crash and Eddie use their wild ideas to protect others, while Orson uses a pack of raptors to rule. That being said, I think the film is lighter on his motives than the villains of the theatrical run, and he works mostly as a threat that lets the brothers shine.

The herd's role also stands out when you compare it with earlier films. In Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), Manny is the one vowing to get back to his family across the sea, and in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) the herd mounts a rescue after a huge Tyrannosaurus mother carries Sid off to a hidden world under the ice. In both, the old guard leads. Here the herd joins a fight already under way, and Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie end up helping the brothers rather than rescuing them from their own mistakes. In my view that handover is the most meaningful change in the film.

The ending also reads as a setup. According to TheWrap, the film began as a Buck Wild TV spinoff and was reworked into a feature after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, and it works as a pilot for the Buck Wild series. A new home for Crash and Eddie in the Lost World gives a series an obvious base, with Buck as the guide. The first five films were made by Fox and Blue Sky Animation Studios, and none of them ended by moving two main characters out of the herd for good. Even so, the film plays fine as a one off, and the farewell lands without any promise of what comes next.

Ice Age Buck Wild is set in two places, the herd's summer home and the Lost World, and it has no filming locations because it is animated. The summer home is wrecked by the avalanche in the opening, and the Lost World is the land of dinosaurs that Crash and Eddie wander into.

The Lost World is where almost all of the adventure happens. It holds the watering hole that Orson's raptors take over, and it is where Buck rescues the brothers. For a look at the creatures of the series beyond the dinosaurs, see ice age animals.

The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild began as a TV spinoff, and the facts below cover its origins, credits and ratings.

• The film began as a Buck Wild TV spinoff and was reworked into a feature after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox.
• It is the sixth film in the franchise and a Disney+ original, as reported by TheWrap.
• The first five Ice Age films were made by Fox and Blue Sky Animation Studios.
• Simon Pegg has voiced Buck since Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and is the only returning voice actor from the earlier films.
• Zee's credit reads "Zee (or whatever her name is)".
• Box Office Mojo lists no gross figures for the film, and The Numbers lists no budget and no domestic box office. For the theatrical films, see the ice age box office page.
• The official ratings are PG in the US, U in the UK and PG in Australia.
• It is a spinoff, so it appears in the full list of ice age spin offs and on the hub page for ice age movies. The next film in the series, ice age boiling point, is scheduled for February 5, 2027 in the US, according to TheWrap.