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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Ice Age: The Meltdown

    Featured In Issue 116, January 2007

    Picture5
    SoundNR
    WSR Score4
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    2239613
    (MPAA Rating):
    PG
    (Rating Reason):
    (Retail Price):
    $39.98
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Single Layer (BD-25)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    Yes
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    91
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    A
    (Theatrical Year):
    2006
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    11/21/06
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Carlos Saldanha
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    DTS HD Lossless 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    Well, they—Manny (Romano), Sid (Leguizamo), and Diego (Leary)—survived the Ice Age, and everything seems peaceful in their lush valley. But, wait. What's that sound? Yep, it's ice...melting. Now our fearsome threesome must warn the inhabitants of Earth that The Meltdown will wash them all away, so they trek down the valley in search of a boat that will save them from imminent doom. But all is not bad as Manny discovers he is not the lone mammoth when his path crosses with Ellie (Latifah)...too bad she thinks she's an opossum. (Jack Kelley)

    Special features on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc versions include a seven-minute movie, No Time For Nuts, starring everyone's favorite little squirrel, Scrat; an Inside Look at Ben Stiller's new movie, A Night At The Museum, due out this Christmas; and a sneak peek at The Simpsons Movie. Under Cool Stuff, you will find the following: a director's commentary and a crew commentary; four stunts from Crash and Eddie; a six-part interactive that puts you in the director's chair; two minutes getting to know those rowdy little opossums, Crash and Eddie, and another two minutes with Ellie, the female mammoth; six animal-specific student films; and some of Scrat's smackdown sound effect. Oh, and up-front trailers.

    While colors are vibrant, the 1.82:1 DVD often looks smeared, with fine details looking slightly soft. Blacks are deep, and good shadow delineation makes for a dimensional image. The Blu-ray Disc picture, on the other hand, is fantastic, with incredible depth of field and great resolution. Fine hairs and fur are resolved so well, you actually get a sense of what the textures feel like. Colors are beautifully rendered and well balanced, with very good contrast. This is the preferred version by far. (Danny Richelieu)

    The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack can be fully engaging, with well-placed images around the soundfield, and deep, invasive bass. There are times when the soundtrack can be too dependent on the front screen channels, though, which can be disappointing, but there are some really good aspects to this soundtrack. Even though the Blu-ray Disc's core DTS® encoding sounds great, it is a shame there aren't any Blu-ray Disc players capable of decoding the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1-channel encoding that is included on the disc. The fidelity is pristine, though, and I really can't wait to hear the lossless encoding. Someday. Maybe. (Danny Richelieu)

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