Ice Age: Continental Drift
Metascore
49 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 29 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 29
  3. Negative: 2 out of 29
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  1. The Playlist
    Reviewed by: Drew Taylor
    Jul 25, 2012
    75
    Handsomely animated and features a story that, while hopelessly familiar, at least seems to be part of a whole. Also, there are pirates. So there's that.
  2. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Sean OConnell
    Jul 12, 2012
    75
    The fourth Ice Age freshens up the 10-year-old franchise by shunning easy ­pop-culture jokes and embracing its weird side.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    Jul 11, 2012
    75
    The film keeps throwing things at you, like a colorful ape pirate (Peter Dinklage) and a fun hallucination sequence. That said, the laughs are starting to feel prehistoric.
  4. Tampa Bay Times
    Reviewed by: Steve Persall
    Jul 11, 2012
    75
    Gutt is a wonderful villain, something the franchise has lacked, and even performs an original musical number - an Ice Age first, if I'm not mistaken. Dinklage has a sinister voice, and a subtle way of expressing the character's sillier moments.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Betsy Sharkey
    Jul 12, 2012
    70
    In Continental Drift, the filmmakers have gone a little crazy too, but in a good way. Smack dab in the middle of things there's a big Broadway-style number involving pirates.
  6. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    Jul 2, 2012
    70
    It's familiar, drawn-out shtick, and the humor lacks the subtlety of the first and best Ice Age, but there are some visually inventive high points.
  7. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    Jul 11, 2012
    63
    It is as comfortable and predictable as any Saturday morning cartoon, although with higher production values and a spiffier look.
  8. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Bill Goodykoontz
    Jul 12, 2012
    60
    It's all well done and cute and forgettable.
  9. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    Jul 12, 2012
    60
    Continental Drift, like its predecessors, is much too friendly to dislike, and its vision of interspecies multiculturalism is generous and appealing.
  10. Empire
    Reviewed by: Olly Richards
    Jul 10, 2012
    60
    Old friends and new voice talent will delight kids with a never-ending love for the most undemanding animation out there. A megabucks franchise drifts on.
  11. Total Film
    Reviewed by: Paul Bradshaw
    Jul 2, 2012
    60
    Weighed down with daft new characters and an overstretched story, the prehistoric saga is looking a bit old. On the other hand, it still has Scrat –which is all any movie really needs…
  12. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    Jul 11, 2012
    58
    Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that's already been settled. Jokes are recycled so frequently, it's as if comedy writing was eating a hole in the ozone layer.
  13. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    Jul 13, 2012
    50
    At best, the film serves up mild chuckles, with occasional cute jokes.
  14. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Amy Biancolli
    Jul 12, 2012
    50
    The less-good stuff: the pirates, who are so blandly and predictably drawn that they sap all the personality out of Peter Dinklage (as an ugly ape skipper), which isn't easy. And the plot, which just barrels forward with very few surprises.
  15. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    Jul 12, 2012
    50
    Much of the action in Ice Age: Continental Drift takes place on an iceberg fashioned into a seagoing vessel. No one seems to be piloting the boat, which is an apt metaphor for the film.
  16. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Tom Russo
    Jul 12, 2012
    50
    It makes you wonder if the series' animators, who took time out for "Rio" just before this, aren't so secretly yearning to sail different creative waters.
  17. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    Jul 12, 2012
    50
    It's not very funny, but your kids might like it.
  18. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    Jul 11, 2012
    50
    Watching this film was a cheerless exercise for me. The characters are manic and idiotic, the dialogue is rat-a-tat chatter, the action is entirely at the service of the 3-D, and the movie depends on bright colors, lots of noise and a few songs in between the whiplash moments.
  19. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Vadim Rizov
    Jul 10, 2012
    50
    Quality evidently not being a concern, Ice Age: Continental Drift is nonetheless a slight improvement over its predecessor.
  20. Variety
    Reviewed by: Peter Debruge
    Jun 28, 2012
    50
    Now, the action takes to the sea, where pirates, original songs and a minx-like Jennifer Lopez character make for harmless diversion.
  21. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: David Fear
    Jul 13, 2012
    40
    A business-as-usual slog.
  22. New Orleans Times-Picayune
    Reviewed by: Mike Scott
    Jul 13, 2012
    40
    Thoroughly, and disappointingly, pedestrian.
  23. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Peter Bradshaw
    Jul 12, 2012
    40
    With the fourth film, the Ice Age family animation franchise is looking almost extinct.
  24. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Alison Willmore
    Jul 12, 2012
    40
    A sugary jumble of goofy voices, hyperkinetic action scenes and rote plot elements that rolls forward just enough to get us to the de rigueur pop song that plays over the closing credits.
  25. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    Jul 12, 2012
    40
    Something has surely gone wrong when there is not a single moment in Ice Age: Continental Drift that equals the four-minute "Simpsons" short that precedes it.
  26. Time
    Reviewed by: Mary Pols
    Jul 12, 2012
    40
    The frenetic pace masks an emptiness; this Ice Age is just a collection of slapstick moments and fisticuffs.
  27. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    Jul 11, 2012
    40
    Amusing but never rousing, this fourth installment in the Ice Age cartoon franchise comes fretted with freezer burn.
  28. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
    Reviewed by: Joe Williams
    Jul 12, 2012
    38
    With this unfunny fourth installment, the "Ice Age" franchise has skidded so far into kiddie land that adults who tread there risk extinction.
  29. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Jaime N. Christley
    Jul 12, 2012
    12
    Caters almost exclusively to the remedial, Duplo Blocks demographic, leaving parents and guardians bored to distraction.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.0 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 129 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 39
  3. Negative: 9 out of 39
  1. Gilberto
    5
    Ice Age doesn´t improve on anything. This is a series of movies that have locked themselves to be merely good enough within each release, never really trying to push boundaries, and with Continental Drift this is more evident than ever. I knew completely what to expect from the beginning and by the end I got exactly that. Some few laughs with the squirrel and a whole lot of nonsense and that is it. I got to admit that I had little more faith going into this one given that more characters were going to be introduced, a whole group of pirate animals to be exact. This could have opened this Ice Age into fresher territory with more character development, but the truth is that no pirate really develops. One opportunity for example relies on the fact that the two saber tigers, Diego and the girl, were falling in love, but any tease of what the animals may be feeling is left just like that, a tease. They end up together but is hard to tell in what disposition because there relationship is developed in a matter of roughly 5 minutes. So what does Continental Drift means? It means more of the same. A new entry that once again relies on the like-able trio of Mammoth, tiger, and sloth, and off course the lonely squirrel. At is most, it is entertaining and in some parts undeniably funny, but overall this one is pretty forgettable.… Full Review »
  2. BlackBlur
    7
    I enjoyed the movie more than I expected. This new addition to the series was a bit better than Ice Age 3, though not quite as good as the original Ice Age, and worth watching. On the bright side, Continental Drift had parts that had me laughing, but there was a song sung by the characters during the movie that was horribly corny. The part of the teenage mammoth "Peaches" was also pretty boring and childish. But, in spite of the bad points, as a kid, I liked this movie… Full Review »
  3. megaD
    9
    The movie is great. Funny and refreshing just like the previous parts. Watched it with my 3 year old daughter and she loved it. The new characters introduced in the movie like Sid's grandmother are just hilarious.… Full Review »
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