Ice Age: The Meltdown (PG, 2006)

This time out, the multi-culti family -- fretful woolly mammoth Manny (Ray Romano), aggressive sabertooth tiger Diego (Denis Leary), and friendly, lispy sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) -- are on the move due to global warming. Warned by a sideshow barker turtle, Fast Tony (Jay Leno), who predicts floods and devastation, they seek a legendary big-bark-boat large enough to handle hundreds of post-prehistoric creatures. Each animal has his own special role on the journey: Diego's afraid of water, Sid's trying to keep everyone's spirits up, and Manny worries he's the last of his kind. As they begin to philosophize about extinction, they meet Ellie (Queen Latifah), a pert green-eyed mammoth who thinks she's a possum. Between Ellie's delusion and various predators, Sid has his work cut out for him.

Like the original film, ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN features appealing characters in recognizable, particularly familial situations. When the film runs low on plot, it cuts away to Scrat, the acorn-doting muskrat who keeps cracking ice walls and starting leaks in order to get at his prize, big eyes bulging and Wile E. Coyote-style limbs stretching. This bit was charming once and in a small dose, but might seem tedious after twice and three and four times.

For all mixing of fun and menace, the film is really about sincere, sometimes affecting, and decidedly alternative family connections.