The second animated feature released last week was the Fox Home Entertainment title Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, released on Blu-ray Disc October 27th 2009.

The mammoths and sloths are back for a third movie, and this time around the mammoths are expecting and Sid takes charge over three eggs that turn out to be dinosaur eggs.

When the dinosaur Momma returns, she carries Sid and her young to an underground jungle populated by dinosaurs.

The ‘herd’ follows them in order to get Sid back and are aided by an insane, one-eyed weasel named Buckminster.

In addition to their quest to find Sid, the herd faces eminent danger from a giant albino Baryonyx named Rudy.

The returning cast includes Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Queen Latifah, with Simon Pegg taking the new role of Buckminster.

Overall I found it to be a fun movie and an improvement over the first sequel, though not up to the level of the original.

Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs was directed by Carlos Saldanha and Mike Thurmeier, who also worked on the first two Ice Age movies.

The movie earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 45%, though did better at the IMDb with a score of 7.2/10.

Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs was a huge success at the cinema, earning $196.1M at the US box office.

The video on the disc is an AVC 1080p encode at 35.5 Mbps, and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

Full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc can be seen on the details page for Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs.

The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 7.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

It is nice to see 7.1 audio on another major studio release!

The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 46.2 GB used and is coded for Region A.

Special features are numerous and include BD Live Network features and a Digital Copy for Windows and iTunes.

Some of the features are pretty standard, like the commentary and unfinished deleted scenes.

Others are a little more innovative - the Ice Age Storybook Maker is a BD-J application where you can create a story book from the images and phrases from the movie.

Evolution Expedition features a look at real fossils of the creatures from Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, hosted by Trevor Valle from the George C. Page Museum.

We get a behind the scenes look at the creation of an animated character in Buck… Easel to Weasel.

Unearthing the Lost World presents a interviews with the film makers covering the creation of the new creatures for the third movie in the series.

The disc includes the Walk with the Dinosaur Music Video performed by Queen Latifah

A number of short featurettes from the Fox Movie Channel are presented including interviews with voice talent John Leguizamo, Ray Romano and Queen Latifah.

The Scrat Pack features a pair of Scrat Shorts - Gone Nutty and No Time for Nuts.

The Scrat featurettes include some fictional newsreel and news report footage, a demonstration of how the character is drawn and a discussion on Scrat and the new female Scratte.

There is also a BD-Live feature called Live Look Up that allows the viewers to look up IMDb details while viewing the film.

Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs is a fun animated titles and another strong Blu-ray release from Fox Home Entertainment - one that comes recommended for the whole family.

The retail price is $39.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $22.49, saving 44%!

Extras:

• Filmmaker’s Commentary
• Ice Age Storybook Maker
• Evolution Expedition
• Buck… Easel to Weasel
• Unearthing the Lost World
• Unfinished Deleted Scenes
• “Walk with the Dinosaur” Music Video
• Fox Movie Channel presents Making A Scene
• Fox Movie Channel presents Making a Scene (Ice Age: The Meltdown)
• Fox Movie Channel presents In Character with John Leguizamo
• Fox Movie Channel presents in Character with Ray Romano
• Fox Movie Channel presents in Character with Queen Latifah
• Scrat Pack: Scrat Shorts
• Scrat Featurettes
• BD-Live: Live Look up

Synopsis:

In the coolest Ice Age adventure yet, Manny and the herd discover a lost world of ferociously funny dinosaurs, including a cranky T. Rex who’s got a score to settle with Sid! Meanwhile, Scrat goes nuts over the beautiful Scratte, but is she trying to win his heart - or steal his acorn?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 8:51 am and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.