Directors: Carlos Saldanha, Mike Thurmeier
Starring: John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Ray Romano, Simon Pegg, Jane Lynch, Seann William Scott, Bill Hader, Josh Peck, Chris Wedge, Kristen Wiig, Karen Disher, Harrison Fahn, Maile Flanagan, Jason Fricchione, Kelly Keaton, Joey King, Clea Lewis, Allegra Leguizamo, Lucas Leguizamo,
Cert: U
Region: B
Length: 94mins
Video: AVC, 1080p, 1.85:1
Audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English (HOH)
Number of Discs: 1

Oh you might think the dinosaurs all died out during the ice age but it turns out they were just living underground...in a sunny jungle. Huh? Okay maybe Ice Age 3 isn't exactly accurate when it comes to the science bit, but kids aren't likely care about that since they'll be having a whale of a time with unlikely heroes Sid the Sloth, Manny the Mammoth and Diego the Sabre Tooth Tiger. Queen Latifah reprises her role as Ellie and Sean William Scott/Josh Peck voice wise-cracking possums Eddie and Crash while there are also new characters such as Buck - an insane one-eyed weasel voiced by Simon Pegg who's part Crocodile Dundee, part William Shatner.

Dawn of the Dinosaurs might have got the thumbs down from cynical critics last summer but that didn't stop it earning nearly a billion dollars at the international box office, making it the second highest grossing animated film of all time (if you believe Wikipedia). It arrives on Blu-ray stripped of the 3-D effect viewers experienced in theatres but good comedy surely works in any dimension and since it looks absolutely gorgeous in HD you won't feel short-changed in the slightest (okay maybe a teeny tiny bit but 3-D Blu-ray will be here soon). Arguably the best of the trilogy, part three begins with hairy Elephants Ellie and Manny preparing for the arrival of their first born, leaving Diego feeling like a third wheel. He can't even concentrate whilst hunting (after failing to catch a gazelle, it doubles back and mocks him). Sid, on the other hand, wants in on the baby action. When he finds some abandoned eggs in a cave he takes them home to raise them as his own...except they turn out to be the offspring of an angry T-Rex who then comes looking for them.

Awwwwww!

Humorous shenanigans ensue - Manny and Diego are swallowed by a giant plant and have to be rescued; a sequence that somehow turns into a scene from Lethal Weapon 3 - but the bulk of the comedy rests with Scrat the Sabre Tooth Squirrel and his never-ending quest to catch that darned acorn. This time there's the added challenge of a rival in the form of a sexy flying squirrel who's also after Scrat's nuts (ooh!). As Manny and the rest of the gang descend into a huge underground cave looking for Sid they come in contact with Buck - a rare misfire on the part of King Simon of Pegg (or rather, the scriptwriters). While his character occasionally raises a smile by getting in a fight with his own hand puppets or talking into a rock like its a mobile phone, most of his written gags fall flat. Indeed, most of the laughs in the film are generated by the talented animators as opposed to what the actors are saying. Thankfully the Moby Dick-style grudge Buck holds against a huge Suchomimus (it's a dinosaur, look it up) works much better - the flashback to the moment he and 'Rudy' first face off against each other during a raging storm is one of many animation highlights.