The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild: Dino slight

The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG, and needlessly, for action and mild language

Available via: Disney+

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 1.28.22

Madcap humor notwithstanding, the Ice Age series has been noteworthy for each film’s warm emphasis on family: a focus that I’m certain has maintained the franchise’s popularity.

 

Danger-addicted possums Crash and Eddie, left, return to the Lost World and renew
their acquaintance with one-eyed weasel Buck, while sparking a new friendship with
an impressively resourceful zorilla named Zee.

Humor always flows best from well-developed characters, and it was easy to fall in love with an unusual family unit originally comprising cynical woolly mammoth Manny, reformed sabre-toothed tiger Diego, and goofy, good-natured sloth Sid: each either abandoned by his own kind, or believing himself the last of his kind.

Over time, Manny lucked into meeting orphaned female woolly mammoth Ellie, who initially believed herself to be a possum, having been raised alongside possum “brothers” Crash and Eddie.

 

Sidebar hilarity — essentially mini-cartoons occasionally interrupting the core story — was provided by Scrat, a sabre-toothed squirrel forever on the pursuit of acorns (always with catastrophic results).

 

Despite the constant bickering between various members of this unlikely group, we never doubted their mutual devotion: repeatedly proved, over the course of subsequent adventures.

 

This newest entry, sixth in the series, messes with the formula. As can be assumed from the title, the focus is on Crash, Eddie and notably Buck, the sanity-challenged, one-eyed weasel introduced in 2009’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Manny, Ellie and the others are sidelined.

 

The result — in the hands of director John C. Donkin and writers Jim Hecht, Will Schifrin and Ray Delaurentis — is an entertaining, adventure-laden romp, but the inter-personal warmth is lacking. 

 

There’s also no sign of Scrat, which is absolutely unacceptable. An Ice Age film without Scrat is like a Despicable Me entry without Minions.

 

This difference in tone and approach, and particularly the absence of heart, can be explained by missing-in-action producer/director Chris Wedge, and the fact that the marvelous animation studio he co-founded — Blue Sky Studios, which created all the previous Ice Age films — was shut down in April 2021, following its 2019 acquisition by Disney. 

 

Ergo, this new film — for better or worse — is an Ice Age entry as “adjusted” by Disney. Fans familiar with the Blue Sky “look” will immediately notice that the animation here isn’t nearly as lush. 

Brittany Runs a Marathon: An inspiring effort

Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019) • View trailer 
Four stars. Rated R, for profanity, sexual candor and brief drug content
By Derrick Bang

We’ve often heard that artists suffer for their work.

Jillian Bell suffered more than most.

When Brittany (Jillian Bell) enters her first actual race, she winds up pacing
Seth (Micah Stock), who quickly becomes her comrade-in-agony.

She pulled a Christian Bale before and during the filming of Brittany Runs a Marathon, which is highlighted by her effervescent — and, at times, quite brave — performance in the title role. (Bale notoriously dropped 63 pounds when he made 2004’s The Machinist.)

Writer/director Paul Downs Colaizzo’s indie charmer is the sort of “modest” film that rewards discovery, and deserves to be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. The icing on an already delectable cake: It’s based on a real-world woman’s actual journey of self-discovery and accomplishment.

As much as Bell owns this film, she’s surrounded by a wealth of engaging supporting characters, all brought to captivating life by an equally talented ensemble cast. Their diverse personalities are thoughtfully constructed; the resulting duo and group dynamics are spot-on; and Colaizzo’s script drops plenty of hilarious one-liners without making these individuals seem any less real-world.

That’s a neat trick.

On top of which, Colaizzo inserts some perceptive — and desperately needed — jabs at the too-frequently-cruel narcissism of the social media generation.

New York-based Brittany Forgler (Bell), 27 and feeling more like 37, has lost control. Her life — hard partying, chronic under-employment and ghastly “relationships” — is the stuff of an immature high school or college student, with no thought of adult responsibility. And, yes; she has let herself go physically, and it’s catching up with her.

All of which has become a serious concern to her older sister, Cici (Kate Arrington), and brother-in-law, Demetrius (Lil Rel Howery), who essentially raised Brittany following a nasty parental divorce. But sibling disapproval isn’t sufficient; Brittany isn’t brought up short until she tries to score some prescription Adderall, and instead gets a gentle reprimand from her doctor (Patch Darragh, in a brief but telling role).

The message: Get healthy. Before the downward spiral becomes dire.