Ice Age: Continental Drift

It is the sequel to the 2009 film Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and the fourth installment in the Ice Age film series. The film was directed by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier from a screenplay written by Michael Berg and Jason Fuchs, based on a story conceived by Berg and co-producer Lori Forte. Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Queen Latifah, and Chris Wedge reprise their roles from previous films, with Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lopez, Drake, and Nicki Minaj voicing new characters.

The plot focuses on Scrat mistakenly sending Manny, Sid, and Diego adrift on an iceberg with Sid’s Granny and causing them to face a gang of pirates led by Captain Gutt on Earth.

The film was released in the United States on July 13, 2012, as the first Ice Age film to be presented in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio. The film received mixed reviews with praise for its performances, animation, score, heart and humor, but criticism for its plot and unoriginality.

Despite mixed reviews, it grossed $877.2 million worldwide, marking it the fifth highest-grossing film of 2012 and the highest-grossing animated film of 2012. A sequel, Ice Age: Collision Course, was released on July 22, 2016.

However, while Ellie supports and accepts her daughter’s desire to explore and meet new people, Manny is overprotective, irritating Peaches and driving a wedge between the two. Meanwhile, Sid’s family returns, but only to drop off the elderly Granny before promptly abandoning them both. Manny then catches Peaches hanging out with a group of teenage mammoths he does not approve of, causing a heated argument between him and Peaches.

Shortly after, a sudden continental break-up caused by Scrat trying to bury his acorn traps Manny, Sid, Diego, and Granny on moving chunks of ice, giving them no choice but to ride the current and separating them from Ellie, Peaches, and the rest of the animals, who remain on land, causing Peaches to feel guilty over her fight with her father.

At the same time, a giant land shift encroaches on those remaining on land, forcing them to make their way towards a land bridge to get to safety under Ellie’s lead. Meanwhile, Scrat finds another acorn at the bottom of the ocean, but a broken one that, inside, shows a map to “The Lost City of Scratlantis” which Scrat sets off for.

After encountering a violent hurricane which pushes them further away from land, Manny’s group is captured by a band of pirates sailing on a floating iceberg pirate ship led by a Gigantopithecus, Captain Gutt, who attempts to pressure them into joining his crew. When Manny refuses, Gutt tries to execute them; this leads to their escape, which inadvertently causes the ship and food supplies to sink. Gutt’s first mate, a sabretooth named Shira is forced to join them after she is rescued after being left for dead by her crew mates.

The herd washes ashore on Switchback Cove, which gives a current back to their home. After learning that Gutt has enslaved a group of hyraxes and is using them to build a new iceberg ship, Manny coordinates a plan with some more hyraxes to free their comrades and steal the ship, and they can create a diversion. Just before they manage to escape aboard the ship.

Diego, having fallen in love with Shira, tries to convince her to leave the pirates and join the herd for a better life, but Shira, starting to reciprocate Diego’s feelings, while initially accepting, instead stays behind and slows Gutt down so the herd can escape. Gutt forms yet another ship and plots revenge on Manny.

Meanwhile, during the animals’ trek to the land bridge back on the mainland, Peaches joins the group of mammoths from before, only to find out that they do not care about the ongoing danger, and they look down on her for being friends with a mole hog named Louis. When Louis overhears Peaches telling the other mammoths that they are not friends, Peaches realizes who her true friends are and berates the others for their cocky attitudes.

After narrowly escaping a pack of sirens, Manny, Sid, Diego, and Granny return home and find that not only has the land bridge been destroyed, but Gutt has arrived there before them and taken Ellie, Peaches, and the rest of the herd hostage. Louis faces Gutt to save Peaches, ensuing a fight, as Granny’s pet whale.

Livyatan named Precious, arrives and fends off Gutt’s crew. Peaches saves Ellie, while Manny defeats Gutt in a final duel on an ice floe before he is saved by Precious from falling into the ocean.

Gutt encounters a siren that assumes the shape of a female Gigantopithecus, who eats him alive by trapping him in a giant clam. In the aftermath, Peaches reconciles with both Louis and Manny, who is finally reunited with his family and friends, while Shira joins the herd and starts a romance with Diego. With their home destroyed by the land shift, Precious takes the herd to a lush island, where the hyraxes have started rebuilding their civilization.

Scrat reaches Scratlantis, where there are acorns everywhere, causing him to become eagerly hyperactive. When he is warned not to take anymore, Scrat unsuccessfully attempts resistance but then pulls a giant acorn plug where water comes in and flushes the entire city down, taking its residents with it in the process.

Scrat survives, but when trying to dig where the city is now, the ground cracks as Scrat is now in the middle of a desert known as the Death Valley, where his eyes start burning.