Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

It’s hard to know whether woolly mammoths would see global warming as a welcome relief from the interminable harshness of its icy existence or as a sure sign that the best days were past and it was all to be downhill until extinction. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is, like its predecessor, a lot of fun but I can’t help feeling that the franchise is already on a slippery slope. Like most sequels, it’s not as good as the original and it would probably be a bad move to try and squeeze another film out of the idea.

The story is, as with the original Ice Age, not the strongest feature, but what makes both films so entertaining is the dialogue and some wonderfully funny sequences which are loosely held together by the narrative. Or not, in the case of Scrat whose personal quest to get hold of his acorn and stash it away safely provides interludes from the main action and only connects with it on occasions. This time around the original characters of Manfred the woolly mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo) and Diego the sabre-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) are supplemented by two possums, Crash and Eddie, (Seann William Scott and Josh Peck), and another mammoth, Ellie (Queen Latifa).

Families can be a difficult subject in our increasingly fragmented society, and it is no surprise to find Ice Age 2 following on from the first film in exploring just what makes for a family. The implication, once again, is that it isn’t necessarily about being a traditional nuclear family, but about being a close-knit group that functions as a family. Manny is beginning to think he is the last woolly mammoth alive. He justifies his unconventional ‘herd’ calling it, ‘One big, happy family. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.’ But he is uncomfortable when asked, ‘Then where’s your big happy family?’ Sid, sensitive as ever, teases him saying, ‘One truly is the loneliest number.’ Manny’s delight at coming across Ellie is somewhat tempered by surprise at seeing her fall out of a tree, and turns to consternation when he discovers that she believes herself to be a possum. What hope is there of saving his species when the only potential partner thinks she isn’t the same species? It makes for a difficult relationship with her flighty possum-like personality contrasting sharply with his reserved, misanthropic mammoth character. When eventually both Manny and Ellie are faced with the choice between joining a conventional mammoth family/herd and sticking with their alternative herd, we can easily guess what they will each decide.

Both Manny and Diego look down on Sid, considering him an often irritating, sometimes stupid liability. Fortunately, he seems to have a near-indestructible ego and is thicker-skinned than his long-tusked companion. But he isn’t completely insensitive to their jibes. At one point he complains, ‘It’s about time someone recognised my potential.’ The difficulty for Sid is, perhaps, that he doesn’t what his potential really is. While he fancies himself as a hero – and does at one point receive the adulation which he thinks is his due – he doesn’t spot the contribution that he alone can make. It takes Diego, who is even more impatient of him than Manny, to finally point it out: ‘His herd needs him. He’s the gooey, sticky stuff that holds it together. He made this herd. We’d be nothing without him.’ At this point Sid knows he is an invaluable member of the group and he is free to be himself without trying to make himself into something he can never be.

Sid also plays an important role in Diego’s story in Ice Age 2. While Manny is worrying about the idea of family, and Sid is concerned to be recognised as a valuable asset to the community, Diego is facing a new enemy: fear. As a sabretooth, he has never been afraid of anything. But now the ice is melting, he is terrified by having to cross water. Sid – again showing more sensitivity than we expect – is the one who spots Diego’s problem. Here is his chance to do some taunting himself, but his very genuine concern to help his friend takes over and he encourages Diego to be as brave as he is supposed to be and face his fear. ‘The point is that fear is natural,’ Sid tells the big cat. ‘Fear is for prey,’ retorts Diego dismissively. Sid replies, ‘Then you’re letting water make you its prey.’

There is an inevitability to the narrative so that we know Diego will find his redemption, just as Manny and Sid do. But nevertheless there are important messages here: families and close friendships are vital, but they require hard work and commitment; reaching your potential is important, but it might be something completely different to what you’re looking for; fear can disable even the bravest of us, but when we face it head on we discover new strength and new abilities. Important though these are, the Christian message goes further. What if you don’t have close friends who can be a surrogate family? Do you still have any value? What if you can’t discover your potential? Do you still have any significance? What if you don’t have the inner resources to face your fear? Are you without hope? The Christian response is that, whatever our relationships are like, we are loved more than we could ever imagine by God himself who values the kind of people we are more than what we can do or contribute, and who can give us grace to help us when we need it. Manny, Sid and Diego discover some kind of redemption in very ‘human’ solutions. But biblically we need to find a far more important redemption – we need to be rescued from the problem of our fallen human nature, from our rebellion against God. And it’s only when that is sorted out – through the rescue mission of Jesus Christ – that we can really begin to appreciate just how loved and valued we are, and just what help is available to us.

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