In the latest instalment of Ice Age, Buck Wild, the one-eyed weasel is back. As the name suggests, the film is centred around Buck, but what the name does not depict is that the sixth film has little presence of Manny the mammoth, Sid the sloth, and Diego the sabre tooth tiger.

The film begins when the ‘stupid’ possums leave their family for a little independence and a place of their own. The thrill-seekers soon find themselves trapped ‘underground’, in a cave inhabited by dinosaurs. Here, they are rescued by Buck Wild, and together they wreak havoc. With new friends, they ‘adventure’ around to save the Lost World from the obvious dinosaur rule.

With new addition of Zee, the zorilla, Buck, Eddie, and Crash fight the ‘evil’ dinosaur Orson, whose aim is to take over the Lost World, last seen in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Orson resembles a kid on the playfield with delusions of bullying grandeur, while Zee’s presence makes the story interesting for the audience. The banter between Eddie and Crash is also enjoyable, but with the absence of main characters, lacks some punch. The notable omission from the movie was Scrat — the sad-eyed small animal that goes after acorns, in this instalment, however, Mama T-Rex does make a few cameos.

Simon Pegg, famous for his roles in Star Trek and Mission Impossible franchise, returns to voice for Buck Wild. Voices of most of the main characters are provided by new ones, Sean Kenin Elias-Reyes replaces Ray Romano for Manny, Vincent Tong replaces Seann William Scott for Crash; Eddie, earlier voiced by Josh Peck, is done by Aaron Harris, while their adopted sister Ellie has Dominique Jennings instead of Queen Latifah.

The 81-minute long action-adventure film mostly happens in the Lost World. It emphasises the importance of teamwork, addressing teenagers’ issues as well as asking overprotective parents to be lenient to their kids. All could have done it better had the makers stayed in the Ice Age.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 19th, 2022