The Reel Rejects - ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN (2006) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

MANNY FINDS LOVE?! Ice Age: The Meltdown Full Movie Reaction Watch Along: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Ice Age 2 Reaction, Recap, Commentary, & Spoiler Review for the sequel to the hilarious & charming animated comedy Ice Age starring Ray Romano as Manny (Everybody Loves Raymond), John Leguizamo (Sid), & Denis Leary (Diego). The Ice Age voice cast for Disney / 20th Century Fox movie expands out with Queen Latifah as Ellie, Jay Leno as Fast Tony, Will Arnett (The Lego Batman) as the Lone Gunslinger, Josh Peck as Eddie, & Sean William Scott as Crash. Greg Alba & Aaron Alexander watch & react to the best & funniest scenes / movie clips such as "Minefield," "Fire King", "Opossums", "did the first place", "I wanna Be With", "Thin Ice", "Hot Water", "Opening Scene" "Scrat Vs Piranha Fight Scene" "Fish Fight" & "Ending Scene" MORE!! Follow Aaron On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealaaronalexander/?hl=en Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Jaya. What? Okay. Little John references is what I say is all about keeping him with the youth. Well, Aaron, what did you think? Did you like you more than the first one? I was thinking about that. And I feel like it has more matured feet.

God dang. it, Aaron. I don't know. Fix your mic. I think I like the thing about the first one is I really like the themes of having a found family and him coming to terms with being able to accept the fact that, you know, this girl he has to care for, but I really like the themes in this movie deals with of hornyness. Of horniness, of fat asses.

I don't know. I liked aspects of this movie. I think I like the main theme. of like kind of how we talked about earlier with him being able to confront the nature of change and being alone and then find this other mammoth. Yes, I did say this. But I also found that there was a lot going on between like the end of the world stuff or what they perceived to be the end of the world, him having to find a partner, then Diego's thing,

then Scratch thing, and then there's this, these monster threats that we kind of tease. So I felt like it was balancing a lot, but most of the focus was. on manny but i feel like it was just it spread itself a little too thin but i feel like it managed to focus on just the the main stuff long enough for it to not feel like it was kind of like okay where are we going we're not giving the proper things enough time to have life you know kind of yeah i would kind of meet you there i kind i think it all balanced it out pretty well actually i think i think this one had more in its mind then the first one did

and sometimes I felt the humor of like the possums were there because they were like well we can't go that mature we can't go full Pixar here you know we can't because I really think they were

there was a lot more it felt more adult in a lot of things but then there were times it was like oh this feels super kiddish now yeah I feel like some of the scenes outside of Scrassev because I feel like that's just in the DNA of these movies but like the whole stuff

with him like the fire king that felt like a very added on tacton kind of addition even though that stuff was enjoyable yeah and i don't know i thought it was interesting because i was gonna say as we were watching it the part where right after we had like ellie's backstory and it's like them talking he's like oh i think we're attractive the music cues in there like just the way that the the the stuff was falling it felt like we're about to go into a music cue or about to go into a musical number and then the same thing with like when we see scrat or we see sid with his little minions or whatnot. So I'm like, okay, I thought that was interesting.

We kind of, I felt like they were teasing something. And then we finally got the Vulture song, which didn't really come of anything. I thought they were also going to be an added threat to the movie. So it had like a lot of little pieces. The vultures didn't really amount to anything. Yeah, they're just kind of there. So I don't know, they had all these little things, but I feel like the crux and heart of the movie was so strong. It didn't take away from the fact that it felt like there was all these added stuff for just entertainment value.

But obviously it's a kids movie, so you've got to have these, like, things to punch it up. But I really liked the foundation of it being Manny's story and, like, finding kinship with this other mammoth and how that kind of coincided with the larger theme. Even though I would have liked the stuff with them having to escape the meltdown, be a little bit more prominent and feel that threat more actively, I still think that them focusing on the relationship aspect of it was the strongest part of the movie. Yeah, absolutely. It's still about choosing family right at the very end. You know, he realizes he's not alone. There's all these, there's a whole bunch of mammoths out there. And at the very end of it, he still chooses to be just with Sydney Diego.

It's almost like no question for him. Yeah. Because it's, even though it's all these things about, am I the last mammoth? Am I extinct? It's like, no, you choose who your family really is. Like I actually wouldn't have, I don't know how it would have felt. I don't think I would have liked it if he went off with the herd. honestly I don't think I would have liked that

even though the movie seemed like it was going there for a hot second like I didn't actually think he turned around I was like okay I guess he's going with him I would be here having a very different opinion but I was like okay I'm glad he chose that because that's very character driven with them yeah I agree it kind of would have felt like a betrayal of the

first movie because that was all about having these people having a found family like all right now they're from a real family dozes guys yeah no I'm happy that he went back for them and to kind of to your point I think that when he, when Sid was in that support role for his friend, he is strongest and like infusing that humor into his support. I think makes him the best and like shows his, his strengths.

Like he is that glue, you know, and utilizing him as that glue is where he shines the best. Yeah, I think Sid, I like Sid here more than I did in the last movie. He never actually, like there were times where in the last movie, like I like Sid, but there were times he was a little annoying. I never found him annoying here at all. I actually liked him a lot. I think they utilized them in just the right dosage. I do kind of miss the, I thought there was a really strong trio effect because the other movie is small, like, feels more contained.

Yeah, it's more focused. The movie is way more contained in what it's doing. Granted, it's not as perilous in what they're adventuring often to doing. And I do think it was just so much about the chemistry of those three. And here it was like, they had Diego and Sid. and then you had Nanny bonding with, you know, I still, I forgot her name already. Elita, yeah, bonding with Ellie. And I liked it, though.

I did, I liked it quite a bit. I appreciate a lot more of the peril that they actually sold on. I bought the stakes of it and I liked how there was like an environmental danger to it. You know, when you think about the Ice Age and they even have the final line at the end of the movie about I could use a global warming. Like to actually zero in on the environmental fears that occur in the world when they do go through these changes and what the animals must be facing at that time, I think is actually a smart call to create some danger and stakes. And then they even commit to the darkness too when a lot of the, when the ice is breaking apart and the water is coming for them and the flood at the very end, too, with those creatures in the water. I don't know what they are, but the creatures in the water that are hunting them. I thought they were actually kind of scary.

Like, this movie will commit to its scenes a lot of the time when it is just focused on being a little bit more intense. Yeah. And I appreciated it that they actually went all out like that, you know? And like there's no humans in this one where the last one did have some humans. And it's just the animals here. And the animation is, of course, better. Yeah.

And they needed it because they're the scope. of the world feels much bigger this time around and not of course that would be due to the travel of the situation of course so i really like that and uh yeah i mean there's i thought it came together nicely in the end for diego it did feel like they kind of wrote something that he needed yeah i would have liked to have seen where that sphere of water came from kind of how we got that that denial of Ellie and her backstory like what's causing him to be

so fearful of water and like why was that not something that was addressed when he was younger like at least got to see something in that vein because yeah I did feel like it was something that was like added on and tacked on well I think like Manny his motivation is very clear cut

where he's like the crux of it yeah it's like in the in part one the three of them their core goal is really much interconnected between them. Totally. Whereas, like, Man,

he has a very, you know, specific journey he's on. And then you kind of got, like, a cute thing going on the side with Sid and Diego. So I think that's what I mean by the chemistry. Um,

like they have chemistry still, but the impact of the, of the trio of them is not as strong here. Yeah. And we're, because like, man, he's got the story with like,

oh, he's got like this existential crisis going on, you know, like I'm not, am i the last one here he finally finds someone he has to get over the past too of losing the loved one and here's this opportunity for it and i like the correlation of being afraid of the future of what's happening with the world but also being afraid of your own personal future you know it's like if everything's going to be doom and gloom you might as well take a chance on love so i

like a lot of what they did with manny but when it came to when it came to sid because it's like in the first one it's really simple right you have sid and manny and diego who are all venturing to return the baby and one of them's got an ulterior motive until he's the one having a journey from you know threatening saber tooth tiger to loving protective saber two tiger so there's this whole journey and then you got manny

who's learning how to accept people in the lives and then cid's also been abandoned so it it's all ties together nicely with the three of them and here just like okay Diego's afraid of the water and sincere supportive

and cid's there to support like it was nice it's fun but I don't think it's as strong and I at the end of the day as much as I thought they gave a lot of heart and nuance to Ellie and her journey and the journey with Manny and like I like the addition of Ellie I don't feel

I don't really like I didn't really like the possums that much they were just there for comic relief they didn't really have any substance of that I didn't even find that funny you know yeah they're just I don't know maybe kids will or kids did at the time sure yeah maybe maybe kids will um but yeah i thought they were were they the sid in this movie to the first movie for you

i liked sid way more the first movie that i like these possums the possums are kind of just whatever to me in this one and and uh yeah i just didn't really care for them i think they didn't miss an element of heart which would have maybe more endeared to them yeah i i would have like to have seen more more heart infused between their relationship with ellie maybe that would have anchored you a little bit yeah maybe that would anchored me a little bit to see some element of sincerity to their characters. Something I noticed as we're talking and as we're watching is that you don't really need to see

the first one to get this movie. Like, even though it does have that emotional through line of Mani's still dealing with the stuff with him having lost and like him having found family, I feel like they make a good point of emphasizing, wow, you're the last mammoth. You're like, you really have nobody. And kind of him finding that through here. But I do agree some of the elements of that. trio charm is lost because manny has such a specific journey he has to go on and they kind of

wrote a side story for them so plus we're adding more characters to our roster you know and I think while adding more characters you're spreading that screen time it is going to give less time for that magic that made those characters work so well as a team and as a unit in the first place so that being said I feel like their charm is still there you know Diego still Diego said is still said I would like to see more of them I think this one embraced being an animated movie way more than the first

one did like the first one I felt like there was a lot more like kind of nonstop dialogue like there's that one scene that you reference with the when he's looking at the mammoths and he's seeing the history manny on the wall I like that scene but here I think they did

a lot of moments that were just visuals I think they did a lot of visual stories storytelling here and I appreciate it. I think that this one has a strength. That strength is more prevailing here than in the first one. So that's one big nugget that I would totally give this movie over the first one is I do think it embraced being an animated movie significantly more. I like the way it ties in Scrat's journey actually. I Scrat is always like a killer he's the best part

and I like how they would like weave him in more consistent throughout because one part of me was going all right are they doing like because because people probably loved him so much the way I was with minions right well we love the minions more minions

okay we love scrap more scrat and I started thinking like is too much scrap is it going to be too much scrap now but the way they would actually even when it was getting super perilous in the finale and then they would be like you would cut to scrap as well. I thought that was really clever the way they interwoved Scrat

in a strong, because in the first movie he's really just a complete side story. Oh, yeah. Very random. It has nothing to do with it. Yeah. And the fact that he's like actually within the same distance of them the entire time, I thought was great. Yeah. I think them being able to have that through line with him and making consistent through it really just, I don't know, add it to the experience overall. But yeah, the fact that he's relevant in the third act. I think was very cool. And I just want this girl to have a happy ending, man. It was just like, he cannot catch a break.

And it's so, it's so funny, but it's also just like, oh, come on, man. But, yeah, I don't know. I totally agree with you on what you were saying on that front. I like the movie overall. I think I liked the music overall and the score in this one a lot, probably more than the first one, except for that one song that kind of play that reminded me of my childhood. and yeah it was just a fun experience it was a fun movie it's a fun kids movie had a lot of adult themes to it as well humor a lot of adult humor a lot of adult humor a lot of dark humor uh yeah it's one of those ones that

i don't know because i feel like it a lot of movies today that we talk about like family movies does a really good job at like writing a line between having that adult stuff and having that kid stuff like inside out is a great example of that you know either kids can watch it successful but like it really hits you as an adult But I feel like this movie was like, we have our adult stuff. Oh, yeah, right. We got to put kid stuff in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. We got to put, we got to put Scrat in there.

We got to put the muskrats or the possums in there and then throw in a little bit of other slapstick. We got to throw in the Sid stuff. But yeah, yeah, this stuff about like existentialism and being alone and like finding love. Yeah, that's like the main point of it. So I don't know. It was like, I don't think it married as well, but the stuff that's strong and works really well does stand out as like a major highlight of the film. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a fair way to put it.

Overall, I think each, I think there's, there's strengths that are stronger in the first one and their strengths that are stronger here. I don't know which one I like more. I feel like there's a like, in terms of like animation, like, of course this one absolutely dominates. Like this one just looks so much better. And it feels more like a film, you know, versus the last one to me felt like just a, I don't know how to put it. I mean, it's like every first one usually is not. The animation is usually not as strong with any animated property. It's the way it is for Toy Story, How to Train Your Dragon, this, despicable me, all of them.

The first one's always not as strong. And so I think, like, the refinedness of it was great to behold. And people have said the third one, I've seen a couple of us that third ones are favorite. Really? Yeah. Okay. Well, then teasing dinosaur stuff, I feel like, yeah, the only lens to the greetings that what? It's like Donna the Dinosaurus is what their one's called?

So yeah, I think that's, that could be interesting, just kind of continue on that plot of like things melt, things are melting, things are changing. You know, dinosaurs are frozen in the ice, so that are going to be a new threat that they have to come. I wonder how that's going to play into these characters, individual journeys, having to deal with the element of dinosaurs now. Well, yeah, I guess that's something we just got to wait and see. Yeah, we'll wait and see. But guys, do you prefer this one over the first one? Do you like it? Do you love it?

What would you rate it out of 50? Leave your thoughts down below. Be sure to subscribe. Leave a like. Keep a look out for when we cover Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Appreciate y'all being here, Reject Nation. Peace out.