Ice Age

Blue Sky Studios’ first feature began as a much darker action drama, and Fox brought in Michael Berg to pull it toward comedy. The change that actually shaped the film we know is far smaller. Scrat’s opening, driving his acorn into the ice, was added afterwards, because without it the first real snow and ice would not have arrived until roughly thirty seven minutes in. That is also why Scrat never meets the plot; he exists as four interludes. The idea came from Flora, daughter of writer Michael J. Wilson, and Chris Wedge voiced him. At 81 minutes this is short for a major animated feature of its era, and it shows. The three animals learning to trust each other is compressed into a few scenes, and the tiger’s betrayal resolves almost as soon as it surfaces. Nobody gets room to breathe between emotional turns. Blue Sky rendered on CGI Studio, its own ray tracer, in development since 1987; Manny’s fur and trunk were the hardest asset in a film nominated for the animated feature Oscar, which it lost to Spirited Away. Who it is for: small children and anyone wanting a short, brisk animated film. Who it is not for: viewers used to modern fur and snow detail; these surfaces are plain within the hardware limits of the time.