Not so much a Dawn of the Dinosaurs than the twilight of a once entertaining concept, the third instalment of the Ice Age series may wow with its impressive visuals, yet will fail to keep viewers interested in its blandly executed story.   

...Dawn of the Dinosaurs re-introduces its merry herd of dysfunctional creatures as they enter transitional phases in their lives: Sabre-toothed tiger Diego (Dennis Leary) considers leaving the herd when hit with the realisation that he is losing his edge; Woolly mammoth Manny (Ray Ramano) prepares himself for domestic life with wife Ellie (Queen Latifah), who is ready to give birth at any moment; and accident prone Sid (John Leguizamo) pines for a family of his own, which leads the gender confused Sloth to adopt three seemingly abandoned eggs and play mummy to its unknown inhabitants.  

Yet when the eggs crack and baby T-Rex’s emerge, all hell breaks loose when the royally pissed mother of the cute little carnivores comes on the scene to re-claim her brood, and take Sid along with her. This leads the rest of the gang to follow in pursuit into a world below the surface, which has not succumbed to the ice age and is filled with long thought extinct dinosaurs.

By taking the action out of the familiar snow covered environment that gave the film its name, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs succeeds in providing a gratefully different habitat for its characters to cause havoc, and introduce an energetic new character in the mix: grizzled eye patch clad Aussie weasel and dinosaur hunter, Buck (Simon Pegg).     

To its credit, ...Dawn of the Dinosaurs will hold viewers with its strong visual prowess, just like an animation film of its size, stature, and budget should. But really, in this age of supreme animation work that delivers in story as well as layout, ...Dawn of the Dinosaurs falls miserably short as a complete package. There is enough here to dazzle the eyes of infants – upon which it will undoubtedly make a good impression – yet it does not hold the crossover appeal that will have parents equally entertained, with laughs kept to a minimum and only chuckle friendly.     

Respite from the films banality is only given in the continued adventures of sabre tooth squirrel Scrat and his elusive acorn, which –much like the equally bland Madagascar series and their beloved penguins – begs the question: when will the writers of Ice Age rid the franchise of their out of mileage lead characters, and focus on their much more entertaining sidekicks? The time is due for a Scrat coup.