( CNN ) -- It may not be conclusive proof of climate change , but every couple of years brings another `` Ice Age '' to air-conditioned multiplexes across the globe . Each of its predecessors made more money than the one that came before , so there 's an inevitability about this fourth venture -- `` Ice Age : Continental Drift '' -- even if it bears telltale signs of creative exhaustion and , yes , drift . The franchise started out as a prehistoric , slapstick spin on the old John Ford western , `` Three Godfathers , '' with a woolly mammoth , a sloth and a sabre-toothed tiger ( Manny , Sid and Diego , voiced by Ray Romano , John Leguizamo and Denis Leary ) delivering an orphaned human baby to safety . It has evolved -- or maybe `` devolved '' -- into a scrappy string of antic adventures interspersed with sitcom-style character notes , all pegged to whatever novelty the writing team can contrive in place of a plot . In part three it was a subterranean dinosaur lair . In this episode , an unfortunate incident with an acorn at the earth 's core precipitates tectonic realignment . When the continents part ways , Manny and the guys are trapped on an iceberg heading out to sea with only Sid 's nutty grandmother ( Wanda Sykes ) for company . Manny 's quest to be reunited with wife Ellie ( Queen Latifah ) and teen daughter Peaches ( Keke Palmer ) is interrupted by a gang of scurvy pirates , led by a tricorn-headed orangutan , Captain Gutt ( Peter Dinklage ) . Whoever thought it was a good idea to spike this tired series with the defining component from a rival , equally over-extended franchise ( not to mention the recent Aardman Animation pirate caper ) , well , here 's a thought : maybe you could introduce a web-slinging spider-boy in the next one ? You know , just to keep things fresh ! The animation is dynamic and crisp , but the story just runs around in circles while we wait for the sky to fall down . Truth be told , it 's a kick that Twentieth Century Fox is distributing a movie about the dangers of climate change . `` Does n't it worry you that this is the end of the world ? '' someone asks a particularly unintelligent couple of party-hearty mammals . Uh-uh , they respond . `` I guess we can tell you our secret ... We 're really , really stupid . '' Like the equally stretched-to-the-breaking-point `` Shrek '' series , `` Ice Age '' has accumulated too many characters with too little to do , and all-star vocal stylings ( `` Continental Drift '' adds Jennifer Lopez , Drake , Nick Frost and even Joy Behar , to name a few ) can only do so much by way of compensation . A bigger problem : the trio of reprobates at the center of proceedings have become so domesticated over the years , whatever mild comic edge they used to have has been dulled to a soft nub . The loner , Manny , is now a boringly over-bearing father . The aggressive Diego is just a big pussycat . Only pea-brained Sid has stayed true to type , which will please infants more than their parents . ( For the record , everything I disliked about this movie -- the dumb teen mammoth romance subplot , the narwhal-propelled iceberg , and especially the irritating Sid -- were selected as personal highlights by my 7-year-old . ) As in the earlier films , the most enterprising comedy features the mute squirrel , Scrat , who 's Looney Tunes-inspired misadventures are almost always a welcome distraction -- even if we already saw too much of this material in teasers released last year . Better than any of this is the five-minute 3D Simpsons short ( `` The Longest Daycare '' ) that precedes the feature . A starring vehicle for baby Maggie , this is sharp , witty visual slapstick that harks back to the silent era for inspiration . True to form , my kid hated it .
` ` Ice Age : Continental Drift '' is the fourth installment in the series . Reviewer said the formula is getting stale . Ray Romano , John Leguizamo and Denis Leary play the main characters .