Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild [Review]

It’s time to return to the Ice Age. In the sixth film in the popular animated franchise, opossum brothers Crash and Eddie set out to find a place of their own, but find themselves trapped in the Lost World. They are rescued by weasel Buck Wild, and together embark on a mission to save the Lost World from dinosaur domination.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. The set up and the way the plot plays out in Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild feels a little off. The movie opens with a strict focus on Crash and Eddie, as they leave behind their lives with Manfred and the gang. They’re the movie’s main protagonists for the first 20-something minutes. Then their arrival in the Lost World leads them to reunite with Buck Wild. 

Suddenly the story is following Buck as the lead, with Crash and Eddie as his sidekicks. The movie turns into a quest to save the Lost World, and focuses on unraveling Buck’s past through his relationship to a new character, Z (voiced by Justina Machado). There are parts where Crash and Eddie seem to disappear as Buck and Z make plans and take action. But then when the day is saved and things wrap up, we don’t get much of a conclusion to Buck’s story. Instead, we end the movie with Crash and Eddie reuniting with their mammoth/sabertooth/sloth family.

If it’s Buck’s movie (as the title would suggest), why is he missing from a good third of it? If it’s Crash and Eddie’s movie, why are they relegated to background roles for most of the middle of the story? It feels a bit like two different ideas for Ice Age shorts stitched together into one movie. Both had potential on their own, but combining them in this way didn’t quite seem to do justice to either arc.

But hey, this is a kids’ movie, right? The real question should be… will kids enjoy it?

And I think the answer is yes, probably. 

Buck, Crash, and Eddie are all fun characters. The new addition to the movie, Zee, slides in nicely as the trio’s more mature counterpart who keeps things moving. But as an old pal of Buck’s, she’s not so straitlaced she can’t have fun and cause a little trouble.

Ice Age fans will be happy to see some of their favorite characters on screen; even though Manfred, Ellie, Diego, and Sid only bookend the movie, it’s nice to see them briefly. And it’s hard to go wrong by including dinosaurs in your story.

Some movies made for children are equally enjoyable for adults. I don’t think Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild is one of them. But your kids will probably get a kick out of Buck, Crash, and Eddie’s antics.

Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild begins streaming on Disney+ January 28.