As long as I'm off on a kids tangent tonight, I might as well keep going...

I attended Catholic high school so I know all about Dante's Inferno and the different circles of Hell. Somewhere around the eighth circle, I think there is a 24-hour marathon of "Everyone Loves Raymond". I can't think of a worse torture other than a "Everyone Love Raymond" episode turned into a 90 minute kids movie. While the movie's plot line isn't bad -- "The story has Sid being taken by a female Tyrannosaurus rex after stealing her eggs, leading the rest of the protagonists to rescue him in a tropical lost world inhabited by dinosaurs beneath the ice." (Wikipedia) -- Ice Age 3 is bland, slow and plodding.

Ray Romano, who provides the voice of of wooly mammoth father-to-be Manny, seems to be trying to recreate his whinny, vapid Ray Barone character. Denis Leary phones it in as the voice of Diego the Smilodon but John Leguizamo is modestly amusing as the voice of Sid the ground sloth. Unfortunately, one mildly amusing character can't cary a 90 minute movie and I found myself looking at my watch from about the 60 minute mark onward.

My other complaint is that the "3D" effects were pretty boring. After paying $30 for two tickets, I was expecting a "real" 3D experience where images jump out of the screen. Disappointingly, these types of effects were few and far between. A little more depth in picture doesn't justify a 50%+ premium in ticket prices.

The real question is what did Jake (my 5-year old) think. While he always enjoys the 'going to the movie theater' experience, there was no spark and no connection with the characters that there were with other movies. "Cars" was life-changing for him, "Horton Hears a Who" didn't rate as high but we still ended up getting it on video. Ice Age 3 was simply forgettable across the board.

Skip this one in the theaters -- caveat emptor if you add this to your Netflix queue.