The Ice Age herd speak up!
The Ice Age herd are in a for a lot of action and adventure when they find that below the sheets of ice that make up their world is a whole new other world with the strangest flora and the most threatening fauna! There are some ferocious dinosaurs in the hitherto undiscovered underworld, and the Ice Age herd run for their lives when they meet with the biggest of them all. Let’s hear what the stars who have lent their voices to these loveable animes have to say...
MANNY
Manny, the loner mammoth, shed his lonelihood when he met Ellie. And now, the happy twosome are expecting a baby, so papa-to-be is in Pamper Mode! “It wasn’t that different from my own life,” says Ray Romano who voices Manny. “Getting crazy preparing for a new arrival comes with the territory.” And crazily concerned for his wife and child, is how Manny does behave.
ELLIE
Ellie, the she-mammoth who grew up believing she was a possum, is now gonna take on motherhood! But not even a big belly can slow this missy down! “Manny and Ellie are opposites in the way they’re handling imminent parenthood,” says Queen Latifah, who reprises the voice role for Ellie. “Manny is nervous and neurotic, trying to make sure that everything is perfect and safe for the baby. Ellie is more nurturing and begins to assume the mantle of matriarch of this family of friends.”
Lead animator Juan Carlos Navarro-Carrión talks about the consideration that went into creating a pregnant Ellie. He says, “She’s still the peppy and upbeat character we know from Ice Age: The Meltdown and we wanted to maintain that energy. We decided that her belly wouldn’t move a lot; it would just be there, and it wouldn’t slow her down. A pregnancy necessitates a careful negotiation of space and movement, to protect the belly and baby, and we were also mindful of that.”
Diego & Sid
Diego, the sabre-tooth wild cat, is no more the conniving carnivore he used to be. He has snugly settled into leisurely life with the others, but now wanting more action he decides to set off alone – to leave the herd. But Sid’s antics don’t let him go too far. Sid, the half-witted sloth, means no harm, but trouble is what he always invites! Like Ellie and Manny, he too wants a baby and he has three! It’s not the babies that mean trouble, it’s their mommy! Yes, dear Sid finds himself some dino eggs, and the hatchlings think he is their mommy! And being the silly fool he is, Sid actually thinks he can look after the baby dinosaurs. “With Sid, it’s all about heart… and being crazy – and we like it like that,” says Queen Latifah with a smile.
“Sid wants to be taken seriously, get some respect, and be treated like an adult,” says John Leguizamo, who for the third time, is the voice of the floppy sloth Sid. Talking about the dino adoption, John says, “Well for one thing, the eggs are bigger than Sid, who has to carry them around. And they don’t eat what Sid eats; Sid’s a vegetarian, and the ‘kids’ are meat-eaters. You know, it’s like you try and raise kids of any species. Good luck!”
SCRAT & SCRATTE
Scrat’s world ended at the foot of a nut. But this movie ups the stakes even more for Scrat, giving him a rival for the nut – a wily and attractive female squirrel named Scratte. She is as avid a nut collector as Scrat, so when she toys with Scrat, is it for his attention or his prized possession? They are bound together by the nut and their sticking together depends on it! There are some lovely romantic moments that these two share, like when they do the tango to to Lou Rawls’ classic 'You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine'. “When we sat down to map out the scene,” recalls director Carlos Saldanha, "we said, ‘Okay, they’re fighting over the nut. What can we do beyond a standard fight scene that will ma
