Manny the mammoth is rushing to Ellie, worrying that her baby is coming. But it turns out to be just a kick. Manny wants to be a good dad, unlike his own family prior.

Meanwhile, Diego seriously considers leaving the herd and hunting like a normal tiger. Manny tries to talk him out of it, but he won’t change his mind. 

Sid envies Manny and Ellie since they are going to be parents. He even feels like they will leave him forever. 

When he sees the playground they built for their unborn child, he is bummed that they won’t let him play there because it’s only for kids.

Sid wanders off and finds some “abandoned” eggs, which he takes. But he struggles to travel with them carefully. After barely saving the eggs while falling down a snowy slope, Manny warns him against stealing them and has him return them.

Not long after, though, the eggs have hatched, revealing baby T-rexes. They see Sid as their mother and they all have fun together. But when they do something that upsets Sid, Sid feels bad and lets them into Manny and Ellie’s kid’s playground–only to unintentionally attract the other kids into it. 

The baby dinosaurs don’t play nicely with the other children. This not only scares them, but also destroys the playground.

When Manny and Ellie find the place wrecked, Manny puts Sid down for it. He concludes to him that he’s not meant to be a parent.

Later a T-rex enters the land, shocking and scaring the other animals. It takes the babies along with Sid. 

When the herd sees that, it follows them. On their way, they discover that there are dinosaurs underneath the main earth. They are intrigued by their way of living. 

But a dinosaur attacks them…until they are saved by Buck the weasel, the only mammal in the land of the dinosaurs. Buck tells his story of his life in the jungle and how his eye got damaged. It was because of the scariest and biggest dinosaur he calls Rudy.

The herd asks him to help them find Sid. He resists at first, but then agrees to help them. He goes over a few rules and then leads them to where Rudy might be.

On the way, the group experiences crazy things. Manny tries to pick some “pretty flowers,” but they turn out to be part of a big, meat-eating plant. The herd goes through a trench with helium, tries to hold their breaths, but fails–only for their voices to turn high and to laugh a lot.

Meanwhile, Sid tries to get along with the mother T-rex. But she constantly resists. 

Will the herd save Sid and reunite?

As with the other Ice Age movies, the humor and characterization remains consistent. However, some changes do occur.

One is how Manny is no longer grumpy. His personality and attitude have turned more positive. I especially admired his poor decision-making skills, such as picking the “pretty flowers.” Another strength, which matters more, is his relationship with Ellie and how they have formed a sweet bond.

Which brings me to my next thought: Scrat falls in love with a female squirrel while trying to retrieve his acorn. The two also fight each other for the acorn. There were even a few scenes where they dance together while trying to take the acorn. One part that amused me was when they did the tango.

A scene with the main herd that made me laugh was the helium scene. I particularly found it cute when the possums, Crash and Eddie, sang “The Chipmunk Song” with their high voices. Even Diego and Manny acted out of character during that scene. But it is important for characters to grow and change throughout a story or series.

It’s not just Manny who changes, but also Diego. He also becomes caring and sympathetic, unlike the previous installments.

Other heartwarming relationships include Crash and Eddie’s friendship with Buck and Sid’s with the baby dinosaurs. I adored when they all called Sid, “Mama” in their high, childlike voices.

I also consider the concept of dinosaurs living underneath the earth strong. It is actually a leftover idea of this obsolete theory, known as “Hollow Earth.” Some scientists believed in that during the 19th century.

Another approach I appreciate is how the creators decided to have the dinosaurs not speak–just make their natural sounds. This opens the door to surprises in the film’s franchise. After all, twists and turns always make movies more exciting.

And this installment has no use of language that parents may find unsuitable for young children. Even Disney Plus mentions nothing about it. I do consider it ironic, though, based on what its previous installment contained.

But overall, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was a good watch and would make a great movie for families to watch together.

I give this film 4.5 out of 5 stars.