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The prehistoric animals return in "Ice Age: Collision Course," but the jokes have fossilized in this fifth installment of the animated franchise.
While the mammoth Manny (voiced by Ray Romano) is dealing with domestic issues that date back to the Cretaceous — angering wife Ellie (voiced by Queen Latifah) by forgetting their anniversary, or fretting over daughter Peaches (voiced by Keke Palmer) being engaged to dorky mammoth Julian (voiced by Andy Devine) — he and his animal cohort see a meteor is hurtling toward Earth.
Guided by their lunatic weasel friend Buck (voiced by Simon Pegg), Manny & Co. head toward a volcano in hopes an eruption can push the meteor off course. If that explanation sounds scientifically suspect, you'll also wonder why astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson would jeopardize his nerd cred by doing a voice in it.
Alas, Tyson's clever cameo is one of the movie's few bright spots, as directors Mike Thurmeier (who co-directed the last two installments) and Galen T. Chu lope through a story with too many characters and not enough for them to do. Even the franchise's usually reliable humor generator, the acorn-obsessed Scrat, can't produce many laughs in a flying-saucer subplot.
'Ice Age: Collision Course'
Opens Friday, July 22, at theaters everywhere; rated PG for mild rude humor and some action/peril; 94 minutes.