Ice Age

Gang and I went to watch Ice Age 4: Continental Drift yesterday at AMC. It was late at night, only four audiences (including Gang and me) were watching the movie - probably due to the fact that most kids had gone to bed already at that time.  It's no longer surprising as the first one of the series: the mammoth is tough but gentle, the sloth is more of a hindrance than a help; Diego finally finds his love and the squirrel fails to get the cone - as always. But its producer, the Blue Sky Studio successfully offers audiences a hilarious movie with witty dialogues and imaginative characters. Everyone knows the end even before they start watching, but the 90 min is still quite enjoyable. As a consequence, I can't recall much from the movie, but a few dialogues during watching.

When the landslide happened at the beginning of the movie (as continents drift), all the animals looked panic. I asked Gang: "Earthquake?"

"No, Climate change." He answered assertively.

At the end of the movie, all the animals successfully defeated pirates and emigrated to a new land. At the entrance there is a weird statue holding a torch.

"Statue of Liberty!" Gang laughed.

And I agree with him. This is such an American movie!

With world-class animation technologies and production teams, American animation thrives without any rival over the past few decades. Besides the Ice Age, the Lion King in 1996, Shrek in 2001, Finding Nemo in 2003, Garfield in 2004, Madagascar in 2005, Cars in 2006, Wall-E in 2008, and recent Rio and Kungfu Panda, have shown the evolution of American animations: better pictures, more dimensions, but always the same ideas. Designed for both young and old, these movies are embedded with core values of human society: love, friendship, dream and freedom (and eulogy for the US sometimes.) Equipped with these universal values and stunning pictures, American animations spread out theaters very quickly - just like how fast-food conquers the world. People have fun when watching it, and better still, they don't need to think to understand them.

In comparison to the popularity of movies with straightforward expressions of mainstream values, another form of animation, represented by Hayao Miyazaki's movies, is declining. Tonari no Totoro, is the sort of movie which requires the audiences to take time to see another scene behind the pictures. A similar animation, Mary and Max (2009) which told a touching story between two pen pals was also under-appreciated. It looks like people are reluctant to spend two hours tearing for two cartoon characters.

This is a regrettable trend. However we can't blame producers seeking after fast-paced narrative and plain stories as I'd assume they are only catering audiences' tastes. When we are too busy to think and too stressed to laugh, all we look for in a theater is relaxation. Take a seat, have some popcorn, and have fun.