The Stranger

The third installment in the Ice Age series stars the now-familiar family of Pleistocene creatures as they venture below the ice and discover a preposterously lush, dino-filled world. They have to rescue their sloth friend, Sid (John Leguizamo), who was abducted by an irate mama T. rex after taking her eggs and trying to raise the babies on his own. Upon first descending beneath the ice, they meet the scene-stealing Buck (Simon Pegg). He's a balls-to-the-wall weasel adventurer who guides them through numerous perils as he aims to capture, once and for all, the enigmatic "White Dinosaur" that took his eye years ago. It's no secret that writers of these children's movies mix in adult references to entertain the parents, but a few here are surprisingly edgy. The "journey to certain death and back" plot is exciting enough to distract from a few awful jokes and missteps. And that nut-crazed squirrel, why, he's the best thing since Wile E. Coyote. By ALEX HAGENAH

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