Ice Age: Collision Course 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
November 7th, 2016
Blame Pixar, Dreamworks or any other studio that’s churning out quality animated films, but we as an audience aren’t willing to accept sub-par animated films anymore. There are just too many alternatives and perhaps that’s why the fifth film in the Ice Age series feels like it’s on its last let. But to be honest, I haven’t been keeping up with the Ice Age series. The first one didn’t do anything for me and the sequels I did catch are kind of a blur. But here’s what I remember; Scrat works really hard to find his acorn, but in the process inadvertently sets in motion a disaster, which the mammoth, saber-tooth tiger and the sloth all have to work together to try and stop.
And guess what? That basic plot description works well for the fifth film as that’s basically what happens. Scrat uncovers what appears to be an alien spacecraft and while hunting for his acorn, he turns it on and shoots it into space and that appears to organize our solar system. That reunites Buck (Pegg) with Manny (Romano) and Diego (Leary), who were busy living their life, only concerned with your typical domestic issues. But Buck discovers a prophecy written in stone that says a meteor is going to destroy them unless they travel to the landing spot of said meteor and find a way to divert it. So the gang saddles up and makes their way to the spot to try and save the day.
Clearly, I am not the target audience for ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE. But as a father of two kids under five, I feel like studios should at least keep my demographic in mind when crafting their animated films. The reason is that I was so bored and almost irritated with this that there’s no way I’d let my kids watch it, not only because I don’t think they’d like it, but because I’d live in constant fear that whenever I asked “what do you want to watch”, they might reply with “ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE”. I’m joking, kind of, but aside from the animals getting bonked on the head an unhealthy number of times, I don’t see what about this film kids would enjoy. If you want cute animals doing silly things, there are a number of better alternatives.
It would be easy to criticize Fox for making a fifth Ice Age film, but with a b-level cast and affordable animation, there’s no reason for them to stop this gravy train until the audience dried up. Since the fifth film made about $64 million at the box office when compared to its predecessor that made $161 million, that might be enough for the studio to put on the brakes. However, I still foresee a number of sequels making their way to home video, so we may not be out of the woods yet.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: When it comes to animated films on 4K, the benefit is with the almost 3D like effect the increase in clarity gives you. That was evident in ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE any time there was a lot going on, like when Scrat was in space or when Buck was doing his opening musical number. With animated films, HDR doesn’t always add much and I’d say that’s true here as well.
Audio: The nice Dolby Atmos track adds to the experience as well and offers a few more uses of surround channels that might have been missed on the standard audio track.
There are no 4K exclusive features included on the 4K disc, but it does include a copy of the Blu-ray, which includes the following special features:
The Science of It All: DeGrasse Tyson Debunks (9:20): DeGrasse shows up to remind everyone the movie is not based on science.
Ice Age: The Story So Far (13:14): This is a random collection of events from the first four films. I feel like they missed an opportunity here to make this a very funny recap of the series, so not sure why they went so random with it.
Scrat: Spaced Out (14:40): This is the opening scene, plus a few extra minutes of Scrat getting in trouble.
Scratasia: Scrat’s Solo Adventures (4:10): A look at Scrat’s adventures.
Mystery of the Scratazons (5:10): This is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek spoof starring Scrat.
Star Signs of the Animal Kingdom (4:40): Another spoof starring Scrat
Sing Along, Gallery and Trailer
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