Took the kids to see Ice Age 2: The Meltdown last weekend. I was not looking forward to it, as I didn't enjoy the first one. But I have to say, it was enjoyable, there were no dead moms, and we all had a good time.
I started thinking about why this particular sequel might be better than the first one, since sequels usually suck. And then I started thinking about other sequels I liked better than the originals: Rush Hour 2 and Shanghai Knights. What all these have in common is that the first movie is based on a tired formula. Ice Age was a Ragtag Band of Misfits movie, and once you've seen 6 or 8 hundred of those, you pretty much know what's coming. I've gotten to the point where I don't even get too interested in seeing how the formula is going to play out. And both Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon were Unlikely Buddy Comedies. It's just tiresome to sit there going, "oh, I wonder if the two cops with the different styles and backgrounds will find they have more in common than they thought and get together to solve the crime?" or "Can the uptight bodyguard and the laid-back drifter find they have more in common than they thought and get together to solve the crime?" or "Will the mammoth haunted by tragedy, the surly sabretooth, and the idiot sloth ever find a way to be friends?" We know the answers before we walk in the theater, which is why the second movie, in which they pretty much have to dispense with the formula and actually do something with the likeable characters, ends up being much better.
So that's why I liked Ice Age 2. Either that or because something about the mammoth haunted by tragedy finding new love spoke to me.
