WRITER'S NOTE: The following was originally posted on my Instagram page @be.kerian on February 9, 2021. I realized, too little and too late, that the length of the piece was longer than a typical Instagram post. Therefore, I decided to post it back here on "Film Freeq," as intended.
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The animation world received a bit of sad news on February 9, 2021. The Twentieth Century Fox-owned division, Blue Sky Studios, would officially be closing its doors this coming April, according to news from the Walt Disney Company. And while not the center of the medium, Blue Sky was still vital in revolutionizing the way animated films were produced at the turn of the century.
Since its inception in 1987, a small independent computer graphics team began work on various commercials, as well as feature films like 1982's TRON. It wasn't until 1998 (during a time when Fox had attempted, but failed, to revitalize its own animation department) that Blue Sky first caught the industry's attention with their Oscar-winning short, Bunny. The success of this evocative story, about an elderly rabbit and a pesky moth, gave the creative team the confidence to carry out the daunting task of developing their first CGI feature film, Ice Age.
Released in the spring of 2002, Ice Age follows a trio of unlikely heroes (including a curmudgeon mammoth, a slick-talking sloth, and a vengeful saber-toothed tiger) on a quest to return a human baby to its tribe during a winter blitz. Trailing the success of Pixar and DreamWorks, it's easy to draw comparisons to some of these respective films while viewing this prehistoric comedy. For instance, mammoth Manny and sloth Sid's first encounter recalls Shrek and Donkey's first meeting in DreamWorks' satirical fairy tale, while the human baby recalls Boo from Monsters, Inc. (Both films were released the previous year.)
Those elements notwithstanding, what set Ice Age apart from its competition (aside from its hysterical slapstick) was how it respectfully treated its subject matter and its setting. And there are some quite serious/heavy moments in this film, such as the implied death of a parent as well as some intense moments of peril. Plus, it generally didn't concern itself with obvious pop-culture references, in spite of having many clever visual gags and an amusing use of Rusted Roots' "Send Me On My Way".
The characters, while not fully developed, are distinct and colorful. But it's the jittery saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat (who eventually became the studio's mascot) who steals the show, as his various attempts to bury an acorn set off a chain of events that set our trio on their journey. And it was this reverence and sincerity that made it a hit (not to mention a favorite in my family's household)--and was mostly missing from the countless sequels that followed in this franchise, as visually eye-popping and -impressive as they were. (They did get weirder and weirder as they went along, in all fairness.)
Like other companies, Blue Sky has had their share of forgettable features (i.e., 2005's Robots, 2013's Epic), despite their photo-realistic merits. They have also delivered some exceptional and visceral gems, like 2015's The Peanuts Movie (an adaptation that would make Charlie Brown creator Charles Schultz proud), 2017's Ferdinand (which recalled the Golden Age of animation from the Thirties and Fourties), and 2019's Spies in Disguise (which took the ridiculous premise of a spy-turned-pigeon and injected it with creative and clever hysteria and action). In addition, Blue Sky should be credited for proving that CGI is perhaps the best medium for adapting the works of Dr. Seuss (i.e., 2008's Horton Hears a Who!).
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| (L-r) Robots, Horton Hears a Who, Ice Age, Rio, Epic, and The Peanuts Movie |
It'll be a pity to not see anymore feature films from this studio, although an Ice Age spinoff series is in the works for Disney+. For now, expect some scattered clouds but nostalgic memories.
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