Ice Age 4 Now in (Some) Cinemas - What Are the Reviews Saying?

Blue Sky Studios' fourth instalment in the Ice Age franchise, Ice Age: Continental Drift has been out here in Europe for over a week (although, despite a few early screenings this weekend, isn't open here in England and Wales until 13th) and will open stateside in just under a week, but how's it faring so far? It should come as no great surprise, given how hugely successful Ice Age 3 was, that Continental Drift has done fantastically well at the worldwide box-office - despite non-too strong performances overall in the UK. The film, coming a whole decade after the release of the original Ice Age, opened at number 1 in all of the 34 territories, taking over $80 million and setting many opening-day and opening-weekend records in those territories. The film's current takings (remember, it hasn't opened in the US yet) are an impressive $118,677,915 (via Box Office Mojo).

The critical response, however, is far less enthusiastic. Ice Age: Continental Drift currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 54% from 24 reviews. It's hardly surprising given that the response for the third Ice Age was far from enthusiastic and sequels rarely maintain the critical adoration of the originals - especially to 4 films. THR's Megan Lehmann sums up her review by saying "[Ice Age 4] Has the goods for kids but fails to break new ground for the series." But, on the positive side, Den of Geek's Simon Brew says "the team behind it have delivered something worth cherishing: an immensely good fun summer movie, warts and all. It might not win bags of awards, but for a family movie, you most certainly get your money's worth."

It shouldn't come as any great surprise that critics are less than enthusiastic in general about the film, I can think of very few franchises that maintain critical praise this far in - Toy Story, Lord of the Rings and The Godfather are some of the few that survived 3, let alone 4! But a strong box-office performance and Blue Sky's consistent standards should mean it's enjoyable anyway.

Ice Age: Continental Drift opens in the remaining UK countries and in the US on 13th July,