Ice Age: Continental Drift
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: July 13, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
20
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The PlaylistDrew TaylorJul 25, 2012
Handsomely animated and features a story that, while hopelessly familiar, at least seems to be part of a whole. Also, there are pirates. So there's that. Read full review
75
Washington PostSean OConnellJul 12, 2012
The fourth Ice Age freshens up the 10-year-old franchise by shunning easy ­pop-culture jokes and embracing its weird side. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJul 11, 2012
The film keeps throwing things at you, like a colorful ape pirate (Peter Dinklage) and a fun hallucination sequence. That said, the laughs are starting to feel prehistoric. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJul 11, 2012
Gutt is a wonderful villain, something the franchise has lacked, and even performs an original musical number - an Ice Age first, if I'm not mistaken. Dinklage has a sinister voice, and a subtle way of expressing the character's sillier moments. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 12, 2012
In Continental Drift, the filmmakers have gone a little crazy too, but in a good way. Smack dab in the middle of things there's a big Broadway-style number involving pirates. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMegan LehmannJul 2, 2012
It's familiar, drawn-out shtick, and the humor lacks the subtlety of the first and best Ice Age, but there are some visually inventive high points. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 11, 2012
It is as comfortable and predictable as any Saturday morning cartoon, although with higher production values and a spiffier look. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 12, 2012
It's all well done and cute and forgettable. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJul 12, 2012
Continental Drift, like its predecessors, is much too friendly to dislike, and its vision of interspecies multiculturalism is generous and appealing. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly RichardsJul 10, 2012
Old friends and new voice talent will delight kids with a never-ending love for the most undemanding animation out there. A megabucks franchise drifts on. Read full review
60
Total FilmPaul BradshawJul 2, 2012
Weighed down with daft new characters and an overstretched story, the prehistoric saga is looking a bit old. On the other hand, it still has Scrat –which is all any movie really needs… Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubSam AdamsJul 11, 2012
Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that's already been settled. Jokes are recycled so frequently, it's as if comedy writing was eating a hole in the ozone layer. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithJul 13, 2012
At best, the film serves up mild chuckles, with occasional cute jokes. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliJul 12, 2012
The less-good stuff: the pirates, who are so blandly and predictably drawn that they sap all the personality out of Peter Dinklage (as an ugly ape skipper), which isn't easy. And the plot, which just barrels forward with very few surprises. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 12, 2012
Much of the action in Ice Age: Continental Drift takes place on an iceberg fashioned into a seagoing vessel. No one seems to be piloting the boat, which is an apt metaphor for the film. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoJul 12, 2012
It makes you wonder if the series' animators, who took time out for "Rio" just before this, aren't so secretly yearning to sail different creative waters. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 12, 2012
It's not very funny, but your kids might like it. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJul 11, 2012
Watching this film was a cheerless exercise for me. The characters are manic and idiotic, the dialogue is rat-a-tat chatter, the action is entirely at the service of the 3-D, and the movie depends on bright colors, lots of noise and a few songs in between the whiplash moments. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovJul 10, 2012
Quality evidently not being a concern, Ice Age: Continental Drift is nonetheless a slight improvement over its predecessor. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 28, 2012
Now, the action takes to the sea, where pirates, original songs and a minx-like Jennifer Lopez character make for harmless diversion. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid FearJul 13, 2012
A business-as-usual slog. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJul 13, 2012
Thoroughly, and disappointingly, pedestrian. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 12, 2012
With the fourth film, the Ice Age family animation franchise is looking almost extinct. Read full review
40
MovielineAlison WillmoreJul 12, 2012
A sugary jumble of goofy voices, hyperkinetic action scenes and rote plot elements that rolls forward just enough to get us to the de rigueur pop song that plays over the closing credits. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 12, 2012
Something has surely gone wrong when there is not a single moment in Ice Age: Continental Drift that equals the four-minute "Simpsons" short that precedes it. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsJul 12, 2012
The frenetic pace masks an emptiness; this Ice Age is just a collection of slapstick moments and fisticuffs. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJul 11, 2012
Amusing but never rousing, this fourth installment in the Ice Age cartoon franchise comes fretted with freezer burn. Read full review
38
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJul 12, 2012
With this unfunny fourth installment, the "Ice Age" franchise has skidded so far into kiddie land that adults who tread there risk extinction. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineJaime N. ChristleyJul 12, 2012
Caters almost exclusively to the remedial, Duplo Blocks demographic, leaving parents and guardians bored to distraction. Read full review
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