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53
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47
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84
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63
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34
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53
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22
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30
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xx
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39
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31
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55
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56
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51
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72
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56
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56
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51
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45
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23
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65
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61
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30
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63
Hot Tub Time Machine
74
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79
IMAX: Hubble 3D
74
Inception
57
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33
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52
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61
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66
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21
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46
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20
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xx
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33
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31
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50
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43
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30
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35
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75
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64
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38
Our Family Wedding
47
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
xx
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51
Predators
50
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56
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40
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53
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65
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67
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27
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46
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58
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63
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46
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66
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45
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xx
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92
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58
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44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
43
Why Did I Get Married Too
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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[Rec] 2
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180° South
90
45365![]()
55
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62
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36
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73
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55
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82
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77
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78
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63
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57
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xx
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xx
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75
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62
Behind the Burly Q
63
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31
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35
Boogie Woogie
64
Breath Made Visible: Anna Halprin
xx
Brotherhood
24
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51
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xx
Ca$h
67
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59
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68
Casino Jack and the United States of Money
37
Charlie St. Cloud
xx
Cheech & Chong's Hey Watch This
48
Chloe
66
City Island
52
City of Your Final Destination, The
56
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
58
Concert, The
xx
Contenders, The
xx
Convention
71
Countdown to Zero
83
Crazy Heart![]()
51
Creation
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Cremaster Cycle, The
73
Cropsey
73
Cyrus
74
Daddy Longlegs
64
Disappearance of Alice Creed, The
73
Dogtooth
50
Don McKay
66
Double Take
47
Dry Land, The
67
Eclipse, The
85
Exit Through the Gift Shop![]()
56
Extra Man, The
75
Farewell
76
Father of My Children, The
30
Finding Bliss
38
Flipped
52
Formosa Betrayed
60
Fresh
xx
Fruit Fly
53
Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
43
George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead
76
Get Low
68
Ghost Bird
77
Ghost Writer, The
68
Girl on the Train, The
66
Girl Who Played with Fire, The
xx
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40
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69
Good, The Bad, The Weird, The
49
Great Directors
45
Greatest, The
76
Greenberg
59
Handsome Harry
24
Happiness Runs
73
Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suess
55
Harry Brown
80
Have You Heard From Johannesburg?: Apartheid and the Club of the West
57
Here and There
xx
Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger
51
Holy Rollers
54
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
32
Human Centipede (First Sequence), The
79
I Am Love
91
I Was Born, But...![]()
33
In My Sleep
60
Infidel, The
67
It Came From Kuchar
74
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
79
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
57
John Rabe
55
Joneses, The
55
Juche Idea, The
65
Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D
86
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53
Killer Inside Me, The
53
Killing Kasztner
44
Kimjongilia
xx
Kings of the Evening
68
Kisses
62
Kites: The Remix
47
La Mission
xx
Last Letters from Monte Rosa
xx
Law, The
63
Lbs.
xx
Le amiche
58
Leaves of Grass
87
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72
Let It Rain
70
Life During Wartime
41
Lightkeepers, The
76
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
37
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66
Looking for Eric
72
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37
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86
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Malice in Wonderland
46
Mercy
78
Messenger, The
47
Metropia
62
Micmacs
75
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60
Middle Men
54
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64
Mother and Child
75
Mugabe and the White African
35
Multiple Sarcasms
65
Mundo Alas
xx
My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
50
My Name is Khan
41
Nature of Existence, The
71
Neshoba: The Price of Freedom
xx
Nightfall
71
No One Knows About Persian Cats
59
Nobody’s Perfect
72
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xx
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65
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59
Only When I Dance
58
OSS 117: Lost in Rio
xx
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37
Paper Man
63
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68
Patrik Age 1.5
40
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42
Perfect Game, The
47
Perrier's Bounty
48
Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies
78
Please Give
31
Pornography: A Thriller
41
Princess Kaiulani
90
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xx
Raajneeti
67
Raavan
78
Racing Dreams
xx
Ramchand Pakistani
xx
Red Birds
63
Reel Injun
85
Restrepo![]()
xx
Road, Movie
45
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
xx
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
43
Salt of This Sea
81
Secret in Their Eyes, The![]()
81
Secret of Kells, The![]()
73
See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary
57
Severe Clear
57
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
52
Shine of Rainbows, A
48
Sicilian Girl, The
77
Single Man, A
68
Smash His Camera
69
Solitary Man
45
South of the Border
56
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47
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75
Square, The
22
Standing Ovation
75
Stonewall Uprising
53
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74
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78
Teza
75
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xx
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49
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xx
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60
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64
Tirador
15
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52
Touching Home
33
Trash Humpers
59
Trotsky, The
xx
Trust Us, This Is All Made Up
24
Twelve
56
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62
Valhalla Rising
85
Vincere![]()
xx
Visionaries
54
Wah Do Dem
70
Warlords, The
56
What's the Matter with Kansas?
55
When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors
68
Whiz Kids
52
Who Do You Love
35
Who Killed Nancy
64
Wild Grass
xx
Wild Hunt, The
56
Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, The
69
Winnebago Man
90
Winter's Bone![]()
68
Women Without Men
xx
World on a Wire
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 49 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Adventure | Animation | Comedy | Family/Kids | Romance
Written by:
Michael Berg
Peter Ackerman
Directed by:
Carlos Saldanha
Michael Thurmeier
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 1, 2009
DVD: October 27, 2009
Running Time: 94 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for some mild rude humor and peril
Starring Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Simon Pegg, and Queen Latifah
The sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters Ice Age and Ice Age: The Meltdown are back, on an incredible adventure...and in 3-D. This time, they’re beneath the ice, discovering a world of dinosaurs. (20th Century Fox)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Ice Age Ice Age: The Meltdown Robots
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
It involves some of the best use of 3-D I've seen in an animated feature. It also introduces a masterstroke that essentially allows the series to take place anywhere: There is this land beneath the surface of the earth, you see...
Read Full Review >NPR Bob Mondello
Unlike say, "Monsters Vs. Aliens," which would have been nothing at all without its special-effects spectacle, this is a sweet little comedy, both family-friendly and centered on a nontraditional family, and so suitable for pretty much everyone.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
There is much more of an emphasis on action in this nicely crafted, fast-paced sequel, which at its best shares the antic qualities of classic Warner Bros. cartoons.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
With appreciably greater emphasis on action than its predecessors, and clever use of 3-D trickery to enhance storytelling as well as offer spectacle, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs could prove the third time really is the charm.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The movie settles into a mode of nice, sweet, safe, and -- sorry, I have to say it -- slightly dull family fun.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
If "Up" is the animated equivalent of an ice cream sundae, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is the Popsicle: Neither as rich nor as memorable, but more than welcome on a long, hot summer day.
Read Full Review >Empire James Dyer
Long-in-the-tooth characters detract from the usual high-spirited fun and frolics.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The series kept it going for one more entry, but throws its commitment to the era away with movie number three, a ploy sure to anger Ice Age purists everywhere.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Not even 3D can save this third entry in the Fox animation franchise about a motley crew of prehistoric creatures.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Hasn't got a lot more to say than it did last time about the necessity of accepting the nontraditional family in extraordinary times, but what it does have going for it are its well-delineated characters.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Will satisfy its young fan base and is bound to make a ton of money. At this point, though, the series is no longer an artistic pursuit; it's a business deal.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
A sometimes lively, sometimes listless wilderness adventure that will keep the kids cool and mildly entertained for a little while.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Once fresh, the story is now buried under a hoary coating.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Couldn't the creative minds at the 20th Century Fox animation studios, hoping to wring a few hundred million dollars more out of their prized family-animation franchise, have come up with something more original?
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Pretty much any sign of creative life gets left out in the cold in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the monotonous, strictly by-the-numbers third edition of the wildly lucrative digitally animated franchise.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Never representative of more than mediocrity from a technical or story-based standpoint, the Ice Age series has reached a new nadir with its third entry.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Not bad, not good, Ice Age 3 may be OK enough to do what it was engineered to do, i.e., baby-sit your kid for a while and rake in the dough.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
There is no faulting the big set pieces, which are shot and edited skillfully. But without involving characters to go along with them, those sequences make for awfully empty movie calories.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Janice Page
It's mostly flat, despite being presented in 3-D, and the writing is so unimaginative that at one point a character yells out "yabba dabba doo!"
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
You should have been able to treat this film as a grab-bag and pull out some plums. Instead it goes grabbing after you.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Though there are chases galore and stampeding dinos aplenty, Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a nicely rendered travelogue without storytelling. There is little to bring an audience along for the ride.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
There's no breathing life into a formula that ought to have bowed out gracefully while the going was good.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
There’s also a sense of ineptness in a script that constantly reaches, with only modest success, for amusing things that the mammoths and their friends can do.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Scrat's annoying ubiquity -- is just one piece of evidence that Dawn of the Dinosaurs has been focus-grouped and is now trying to please its presumed young audience a little more than is healthy.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Every character is like the hyperactive rat-squirrel Scrat, and the audience is bounced around like his elusive acorn.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 49 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Dave H gave it a9:
The film is one of the greatest animated films made, with the new character Buck and lots of adult jokes in it, it really is obvious that Blue Sky put some effort on it.
Shane B gave it a1:
Ice Age sequels should have been left alone. This film, as well as it's predecessor, were full of tripe.
Evan S gave it a5:
Ice Age 3 was okay, but not the best. I liked the first two a lot better, because I thought they had better storylines than this. I'm just not a dinosaur person. That is my opinion and I'm intitled to it. I'll get it on DVD, but I won't watch it all the time.
Jay H gave it a7:
Well animated and it has an excellent pace, it’s great fun - light, entertaining and some scenes are very funny. Great for all ages. Great writing and exceptional voice overs.
CriticVidal gave it a1:
This movie sucks as my ass does. I would have scored it a 3, but the characters just...ticked me off.
Chris C gave it a5:
It just didn't feel like a fully-fledged sequel to me. More like some kind of inane side story. Like two back-to-back episodes of a TV series. Occasionally it felt strained but it had its moments. The plot itself requires heavy suspension of disbelief and the screenplay doesn't do an amazing job of easing you into it.
Jimmy J gave it a10:
Oh yeah! This plot is pure genius!!!! I'm 18 and I loved it. T his was well worth it it just sucks that i got kicked out five minutes into the movie because they realized I was the guy who was banned for throwing popcorn at the scree and dancing in front of it while i was watching ORphan.
