'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'

Home is the much warmer Mesozoic era, a surviving archaeological remnant, I guess, with the lush tropical landscape a welcome change from all that snow. This land of lava flows and lizards is more richly conceived, especially the presence of a very engaging one-eyed weasel named Buck (British actor Simon Pegg, who did a nice turn earlier this year as Scotty in "Star Trek"). His long-running battle with Rudy, the dinosaur who relieved him of that eye years ago, breathes life back into the production.

As do the romantic interludes between the shticky Scrat (Chris Wedge) and Scratte (Karen Disher). Their body language is really all the communication we need as they struggle between devotion and a very tempting oversized acorn that's always in sight.

The 3-D effects are nice enough, but, like the rest of the film, represent a larger problem. What "Ice Age" continues to lack is the level of visual and storytelling inspiration and invention that is increasingly the standard in the animation world. Even the fundamentals sometimes go missing here, particularly in the way the characters interact. It's one thing for the actors not to record at the same time, it's another thing for the film to sound like it.

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betsy.sharkey@latimes.com

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'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'

MPAA rating: PG for some mild rude humor and peril

Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

Playing: In general release