Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: July 1, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
19
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It involves some of the best use of 3-D I've seen in an animated feature. It also introduces a masterstroke that essentially allows the series to take place anywhere: There is this land beneath the surface of the earth, you see... Read full review
75
NPRBob Mondello
Unlike say, "Monsters Vs. Aliens," which would have been nothing at all without its special-effects spectacle, this is a sweet little comedy, both family-friendly and centered on a nontraditional family, and so suitable for pretty much everyone. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
There is much more of an emphasis on action in this nicely crafted, fast-paced sequel, which at its best shares the antic qualities of classic Warner Bros. cartoons. Read full review
70
VarietyJoe Leydon
With appreciably greater emphasis on action than its predecessors, and clever use of 3-D trickery to enhance storytelling as well as offer spectacle, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs could prove the third time really is the charm. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The movie settles into a mode of nice, sweet, safe, and -- sorry, I have to say it -- slightly dull family fun. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
If "Up" is the animated equivalent of an ice cream sundae, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is the Popsicle: Neither as rich nor as memorable, but more than welcome on a long, hot summer day. Read full review
60
EmpireJames Dyer
Long-in-the-tooth characters detract from the usual high-spirited fun and frolics. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The series kept it going for one more entry, but throws its commitment to the era away with movie number three, a ploy sure to anger Ice Age purists everywhere. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Pretty much any sign of creative life gets left out in the cold in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the monotonous, strictly by-the-numbers third edition of the wildly lucrative digitally animated franchise. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Never representative of more than mediocrity from a technical or story-based standpoint, the Ice Age series has reached a new nadir with its third entry. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Not bad, not good, Ice Age 3 may be OK enough to do what it was engineered to do, i.e., baby-sit your kid for a while and rake in the dough. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
There is no faulting the big set pieces, which are shot and edited skillfully. But without involving characters to go along with them, those sequences make for awfully empty movie calories. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJanice Page
It's mostly flat, despite being presented in 3-D, and the writing is so unimaginative that at one point a character yells out "yabba dabba doo!" Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
You should have been able to treat this film as a grab-bag and pull out some plums. Instead it goes grabbing after you. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Though there are chases galore and stampeding dinos aplenty, Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a nicely rendered travelogue without storytelling. There is little to bring an audience along for the ride. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Couldn't the creative minds at the 20th Century Fox animation studios, hoping to wring a few hundred million dollars more out of their prized family-animation franchise, have come up with something more original? Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
A sometimes lively, sometimes listless wilderness adventure that will keep the kids cool and mildly entertained for a little while. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Once fresh, the story is now buried under a hoary coating. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Will satisfy its young fan base and is bound to make a ton of money. At this point, though, the series is no longer an artistic pursuit; it's a business deal. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Not even 3D can save this third entry in the Fox animation franchise about a motley crew of prehistoric creatures. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Hasn't got a lot more to say than it did last time about the necessity of accepting the nontraditional family in extraordinary times, but what it does have going for it are its well-delineated characters. Read full review
40
Village VoiceElla Taylor
There's no breathing life into a formula that ought to have bowed out gracefully while the going was good. Read full review
40
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Scrat's annoying ubiquity -- is just one piece of evidence that Dawn of the Dinosaurs has been focus-grouped and is now trying to please its presumed young audience a little more than is healthy. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
There’s also a sense of ineptness in a script that constantly reaches, with only modest success, for amusing things that the mammoths and their friends can do. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Every character is like the hyperactive rat-squirrel Scrat, and the audience is bounced around like his elusive acorn. Read full review
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