Ice Age Reviews: Our Verdict on Every Film

Our verdict on every Ice Age film is below: the first two films have the most heart, the middle pair have the biggest scale, and the last films suit people who already love the herd. These are my opinions, written for the parent choosing tonight's film and the adult who grew up on it. I weigh three things, namely whether Manny, Sid and Diego feel like a family, whether the jokes land for the grown ups in the room, and what the official certification says about age. If you want the full sequence first, the ice age movies in order guide sets out both ways to watch them, and the ice age movies hub lists every film.

Ice Age (2002), directed by Chris Wedge, is my favorite of the six, because its whole story is a grumpy mammoth slowly learning to put up with company. Manny, voiced by Ray Romano, saves Sid, voiced by John Leguizamo, only grudgingly, and the pair then decide to carry a human baby back to his people while Diego, voiced by Denis Leary, is the sabertooth sent by Soto to snatch that same baby. That tension makes Diego the most interesting member of the original trio. At 81 minutes it is also a gift to anyone with a restless child, and its notable song is Send Me on My Way by Rusted Root. It is rated PG in the US, U in the UK and G in Australia.

Verdict: start here, even if you plan to skip around afterward.

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), directed by Carlos Saldanha, is the best sequel in my opinion, because it gives the herd a deadline instead of a quest. The ice wall around the valley turns out to be a dam, a flood is coming, and the animals have about three days to reach a boat at the far end. Manny also worries that he may be the last mammoth alive, which gives the comedy a tender center. The cast adds Ellie, voiced by Queen Latifah, and the possum brothers Crash and Eddie, voiced by Seann William Scott and Josh Peck, who become fixtures of the saga. It runs 91 minutes and is rated PG in the US, U in the UK and PG in Australia.

Verdict: watch it second, and expect the herd to feel more like a family than before.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), also directed by Carlos Saldanha, trades the valley for a hidden world under the ice. Manny is about to become a father, Diego fears the herd is going soft, and Sid takes three large eggs he finds in an ice cave and treats them as his children. They hatch into baby Tyrannosaurs, and their huge mother carries Sid away. In my opinion Sid's longing for a family of his own is the emotional engine here, and Simon Pegg's Buck, a one eyed weasel, brings a welcome jolt of weirdness. It was released in 3D, runs 94 minutes, and is rated PG in the US, U in the UK and PG in Australia.

Verdict: a strong pick for a family movie night, especially if a child loves dinosaurs.

Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), directed by Michael Thurmeier and Steve Martino, makes the herd's problem a personal one. Manny's teenage daughter Peaches, voiced by Keke Palmer, is clashing with him over her new friends, and then Scrat tears the land apart. Manny, Sid, Diego and Sid's Granny, voiced by Wanda Sykes, drift out to sea on a chunk of ice, while Ellie and Peaches are cut off on the other side of the split. The villain is Captain Gutt, voiced by Peter Dinklage, who also sings Master of the Seas, and Jennifer Lopez voices Shira. Adults with teenagers will recognize the argument at the heart of it. It runs 88 minutes and is rated PG in the US, U in the UK and PG in Australia.

Verdict: the film I would pick for a house with a child between about 8 and 14.

Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), directed by Michael Thurmeier, is my lowest pick of the five theatrical films, though I say that with affection for the herd. Scrat's acorn chase sets asteroids toward Earth, Peaches is engaged to Julian, voiced by Adam Devine, and Buck finds an ancient stone tablet showing where the next big impact will land. A wedding story and a world ending story compete for the same 95 minutes, which makes it the longest of the six, and I felt neither got the room it needed. It is rated PG in the US, U in the UK and G in Australia.

Verdict: for fans who already love Buck and Scrat, and not the film to hand someone new.

Ice Age Buck Wild, directed by John Donkin, is a spinoff that arrived on Disney+ on January 28, 2022, and it runs 82 minutes. Crash and Eddie set off an avalanche that wrecks the herd's summer home, then leave camp to prove they can look after themselves and wander into the Lost World, where Buck rescues them. Simon Pegg is the only voice actor carried over from the earlier films, so Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie sound different, and grown up fans may notice that more than children will. It is rated PG in the US, U in the UK and PG in Australia, and it streams on Disney Plus in all three countries (see where to watch ice age for the full list).

Verdict: a fun companion for young fans of Crash and Eddie, best saved until after the main films.

All six Ice Age films are rated PG in the US and U in the UK, so for children the choice comes down to length and tone. Australia gives G to Ice Age (2002) and Collision Course and PG to the rest. If you have a very young viewer, I would start with the two shortest, Ice Age (2002) at 81 minutes and Buck Wild at 82 minutes. For younger children I would hold back the longer films, Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Collision Course, until a later night.

By the numbers the series is a hit, though money and quality are different questions. Ice Age (2002) earned about $383 million worldwide on a reported $59 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. Dawn of the Dinosaurs reached about $887 million and Continental Drift about $877 million, according to Box Office Mojo, while Collision Course made about $402 million worldwide but only about $64 million in the US, according to The Numbers. The full table is on the ice age box office page. I use the grosses only as a sign of how many families kept coming back.

Ice Age: Boiling Point has no verdict yet, because it cannot be reviewed until it is released. It has a US theatrical release date of February 5, 2027, according to TheWrap (see the ice age boiling point trailer page for video). I will add a verdict here after release, in the same format as the six above. In the meantime you can browse the ice age characters and the ice age cast, or see where each film lands in the ice age movies ranked list.