The animation movie selected for this analysis is Ice Age: The Meltdown, which was released in the year 2002 (Fretts par. 2). The movie centers on three main characters as they try to make their way away from the melting of the ice that was causing a continental drift. The drift had been brought about when a squirrel with saber teeth tried to stick its acorn on the ground. Though the movie is based mostly on humor, it has certain aspects of the history of the world, including how the ice got to be melted, the animals that existed at that time and the effects of the meltdown on the animals and humans.
Computerized 3D technology was used in the making of the film. That had not been the original idea since in the beginning it was supposed to have been hand drawn 2D animation (Fretts par. 1). The 3D animation turned out to be one of the main reasons for the huge success that the movie was able to record, making the producers to come up with sequels. The fact that the technology also required serious computer work meant that the images that came out in the end were advanced.
Art is constantly changing, and artists of any kind are expected to make this change with time. In the past, for example, all animations were drawn, and there was very little evidence of advancement in technology (Longsdorf par. 3). Good examples of this were the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoons. These were the most popular forms of animations during the 90s. It is also around this time that many of the fairy tale stories were turned into animated movies of the same kind.
As time progresses, people moved into the 3D technology. This is perhaps the one that has stayed with animators the longest. 3D animation made it easier for them to come up with certain stunts that were typically not possible with the 2D animation (Longsdorf par. 6). Apart from this, the animals and humans that are often depicted in these movies look realer than those of the past, perhaps why these movies become favorites of even adults.
3D animation was also the best method that producers would have used to bring the historical influence that the film was intended to have in the first place (Fretts par 2). Take for example the scene where the squirrel sticks his acorn to the ground. When he does this, there is a big crack that runs from the surface of the ground till deep down where it reaches the other areas that are inhabited by humans and the animals that form the main cast. If this kind of animation had not been used, some of these messages would have been difficult to convey.
Humans that are depicted using the 3D technology look almost real, compared to those in the drawn animation. Those that had been used in the past barely looked human. It is because of this technology that the scene of the baby taking his first steps brought out the emotion in the audience as it does in real life(Longsdorf par. 2). It was then easier to understand why Diego’s heart began to soften towards the pack. His softening led him to change his mind about leading the pack into an ambush. Eventually he even saved their lives, getting critically injured in the process.
Works Cited
Fretts, Bruce. “Ice Age Review”. Entertainment Weekly. 2002. Web.
Longsdorf, Amy. “Ice Age” nature”. The Morning Call. 2002.Web.