ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (2009) (**1/2)

The popular ICE AGE films have fallen into a comfortable formula -- mix tired SHREK pop culture references with some sitcom plot devices and add in a dash of LOONEY TUNES gaggery. Young kids might find the concoction palatable, but teens and adults who have more refined tastes will be able to call back how much better Pixar cooks up CG courses.

Speaking of eating, Diego the sabertooth tiger (Denis Leary, TV's RESCUE ME) is tired of simply chasing gazelles around the frozen tundra and decides to leave the makeshift herd. But doesn't he want to do that is every film? Maybe in the next film he can go into therapy for manic-depressive disorder. Anyway, he's feeling left out because the wooly mammoths Manny (Ray Romano, TV's EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND) and Ellie (Queen Latifah, CHICAGO) are having a baby. Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo, SUMMER OF SAM) is also feeling left out and goes searching for his own kids to nurture. In a cave he finds three eggs, and as one can guess from the title they turn out to be tiny destructive dinos. So when their T-rex mommy comes looking for them, Sid is inadvertently dragged down into a lost world of dinosaurs under the ice. So the herd, including the annoying possums Crash (Seann William Scott, AMERICAN PIE) and Eddie (Josh Peck, TV's DRAKE & JOSH), venture down into the cave to save their friend.

Director Carlos Saldanha and co-director Mike Thurmeier do a respectable job balancing between the stories of the litany of characters the five credited screenwriters give them. In addition to the above mentioned characters, Scrat, the best part of any of the ICE AGE films, is struggling once again to kind and keep his beloved acorn. However this time he has competition from a pretty prehistoric squirrel, Scratte. How many a valiant squirrel has lost his nut when a beautiful lady bats her eye lashes. As the herd searches for Sid, they pick up a guide in the form of the eye-patch wearing Buck the weasel (Simon Pegg, SHAUN OF THE DEAD). With a nice touch of Daffy Duck lunacy, Buck ends up being one of the most entertaining characters.

He's far more entertaining than Manny's over-protectiveness for his pregnant wife. That's the film chief problem. The main characters are all going through issues we've seen on sitcoms millions of times. Diego is the bachelor that can't handle his friend getting married. Sid is a dimwitted Mr. Mom. Ellie is the wife who is in a permanent state of rolling her eyes. All of this is established with obvious jokes (i.e. unfunny jokes) and out of place pop culture references. When Ellie says, "Talk to the trunk," I just see Queen Latifah rolling her eyes.

While I didn't clock in his screen time, I felt like there was less Scrat in this film, which is never a good thing. Thank goodness, Buck was around. Pegg brings great humor to the character even in moments that seem from another movie. He's a funny performer and makes weak jokes work. From the title that doesn't really match the film's plot to the cliché writing, the second ICE AGE sequel feels forced. They don't even have the benefit of the wonderful world that SHREK has. Thankfully for fans, Scrat and Buck feel fresh, but, unfortunately, the rest of the characters feel like leftovers from the Ice Age.