However, when the continents start shifting and a worldwide cataclysm begins (all started by squirrel-thing Scrat's Quixotic quest for acorns, I might add), Manny, Diego and Syd along with Syd's Grannie (Wanda Sykes, TV's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm') find themselves set adrift on the ocean, desperately searching for a way home.

Along the way they encounter the sinister Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage, TV's 'Game of Thrones'), a pirate ape who leads a crew including an angry rabbit (Aziz Anisari, TV's 'Parks and Recreation'), a dopey elephant seal (Nick Frost, 'Attack the Block') and a cold-blooded tiger named Shira (Jennifer Lopez, 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'). Manny and his friends clash with the scurvy buccaneers as they try to find their way back to their friend and loved ones.

Does that sound familiar? Because it's pretty much the plot to every 'Ice Age' movie; the three main characters get lost and have to find their way back to someone/thing/place. Some wackiness ensues and they learn an important lesson about friendship, themselves and each other. Interspersed throughout, there are scenes where the squirrel-thing does some stuff vaguely connected with the main plot. Maybe there's a song or two. Then roll credits with pictures of the actors recording their voiceovers next to images of their characters.

Don't get me wrong; there's a reason they keep going back to the same well. The heroic journey makes for a fantastic kid's movie. But it all just feels recycled there's no real originality here. Sure there are some funny moments, but they are mostly overcome by the formulaic nature of it all. The best parts are the too-infrequent interludes featuring Scrat there's at least some entertaining slapstick to be had.

(Of course, the best part of the whole experience for me was the Maggie Simpson short that opened the film. 'The Longest Daycare' elicited more laughs out of me in five minutes than the feature did in an hour and a half.)

You'd think that any movie featuring Peter Dinklage as a singing monkey pirate would automatically be awesome, but alas, it is not to be. 'Ice Age: Continental Drift' isn't a terrible film the kids in the screening I saw were certainly entertained but it's not much more than a jumbled rehash of the previous three films. In an era of exceptional children's movies, it simply doesn't measure up.

2 out of 5