Ice Age: Continental Drift and the Animal Family

The newest installment of the Ice Age animated film franchise, Ice Age: Continental Drift, focuses on both extended and nuclear definitions of family, but it also extends the family structure beyond blood relatives to different animal species. In this Ice Age installment, Manny, a Woolly Mammoth; Diego, a Smilodon or Saber-Toothed Cat, and Sid , a Ground Sloth, are cast adrift on an iceberg after the earth opens up, separating landmasses into the seven continents. 

Their journey back home to Manny’s wife Ellie  and daughter Peaches  provides laughs and conflicts with both natural forces and anthropomorphized animal pirates, but it more importantly serves to redefine family, a definition Diego explains when asked about the difference between a pack and a family. In a family, he explains, “We have each other’s backs.” To illustrate this definition, the film explores a variety of family dynamics using effective and sometimes spectacular 3-D animation. The film first highlights conflicts between Manny and his teenaged daughter Peaches in their traditional nuclear family.

More importantly, however, the film also amplifies the importance of Manny’s extended family and their relationships. Manny, Diego, and Sid grow even closer during their struggles to return to their home. But they also serve as a positive counterpart to the pirate pack they outmaneuver. The contrast between the pirates and the Manny-led extended family ultimately lead to an addition to their group and a partner for Diego when Shira, a female Smilodon, chooses their strong connections over the dysfunctional pirate crew that willingly abandons her.  

Sid’s Sloth family also plays a role in the film, again providing a stark contrast to the interdependent family unit Manny has built with his multi-species clan. Whereas Sid’s Sloth family abandons him, leaving him to care for an aging Granny, his Manny clan “has his back.” Sid also contributes to the family group when he builds an alliance with the Hyrax herd, which helps steal the pirates’ ship. To her credit, Granny becomes less of a burden when her pet whale helps them return home and escape the pirates. 

These different illustrations of the ideal family build toward the film’s climax, when Manny reunites with Peaches and Ellie, recreating  the multi-species herd. Although Ice Age: Continental Drift certainly has many weaknesses, it successfully redefines the structure and purpose of family. Ice Age: Continental Drift offers a distinct visual world that is flat and evenly colored, but it also promotes an ideal vision of family that extends beyond species, literally expanding familial boundaries beyond its own.