Road Trip

Ice AgeYear: 2002Rating: PGLength: 81 minutes / 1.35 hours In an era where most CGI animated movies were coming out of either Pixar or DreamWorks, Ice Age (2002) was a strong contender for 20th Century Fox. While a comedy with talking animals wasn’t a particularly new idea, the setting of prehistoric times made for an amusing “road trip” film as these creatures set out to return a human baby to its tribe. The jokes are smart (which every parent always appreciates), but there’s a thin layer of darker tone that lies underneath that might make this movie a little scary for little kids. Star-studded voice casts had become common by this time, but the three leads of Ray Romano (Manny), Denis Leary (Diego), and John Leguizamo (Sid) are iconic and fit their characters to a tee. And while it was clear the setting was much easier to render in this era than something with grass or other high-detail backgrounds, the detail on...

The Mitchells vs. the MachinesYear: 2021Rating: PGLength: 113 minutes / 1.88 hours After Sony Pictures Animation released the visually stunning, Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), I awaited their next project with great interest. Eventually, they put out a trailer for a movie titled Connected, which seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. Then the pandemic hit. Netflix grabbed the rights, renamed the film, and released The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021). Ultimately, it was a fun movie, even if it followed many tropes of the family road trip. Visually, I'm finding the new style of 3-D animated movies that look closer to the traditional 2-D animated films to be an intriguing middle ground. There are benefits from both styles, and this movie takes advantage of them. Ultimately, though, I think this kind of movie knows its demographic is millennials and does its best to pander to some of our absurd humor (like a fantastic scene with Furbies) as we...

Tag: Road Trip

MOVIE: Ice Age (2002)

MOVIE: The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)