KIDS will love the cute, exciting “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” the third installment of an animated franchise that shows no sign of fatigue in its first 3-D outing (in some theaters, at least).
Their parents will no doubt be amused by the idea that this time, dinosaurs coexist with woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers — at least in a subterranean world that seems immune to the global warming that thawed the last installment, “Ice Age: The Meltdown.”
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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.
Ray Romano returns as the voice of the neurotic woolly mammoth Manny, with Queen Latifah as his now-pregnant wife — and Denis Leary as his pal, the saber-toothed Diego, who is feeling left out by the impending blessed event.
The plot is set into motion when the wacky sloth Sid (John Leguizamo) finds some dinosaur eggs and — very amusingly — decides to hatch them himself.
Of course, this is not a great idea, and leads to the others having to rescue poor Sid from a pack of dinosaurs.
The major new character is a one-eyed (and quite demented), swashbuckling weasel named Buck buckling weasel named Buck (voiced by a very funny Simon Pegg) who seems to owe a lot to Johnny Depp’s Capt. Jack Sparrow in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.
There’s less dialogue than in the previous episodes, with much screen time devoted to interludes featuring the mischievous and hyper squirrel Scrat, who finds love with another member of his species.
Blue Sky Studios — responsible for the delightful “Horton Hears a Who!” as well as the “Ice Age” movies — may not turn out masterpieces like Pixar’s “Up.” But they’ve been consistently making toons superior to the much-hyped DreamWorks Animation, which relies too heavily on celebrity voices and cultural references.
Director Carlos Saldanha, encoring from “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” keeps things moving at a rapid clip and uses 3-D far more imaginatively and effectively than in DWA’s “Monsters vs. Aliens.”
“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” makes especially clever use of music, including several variations on the Lou Rawls classic “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine.”
Even Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” turns up.
ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS
Third time’s the charm.
Running time: 94 minutes. Rated PG (mild rude humor, peril). At the E-Walk, the Kips Bay, others.