The Ice Age series can always be called upon to entertain, regardless of which demographic you’re in. This instalment, of what will surely be one of the longer running animation franchises, is set around the appearance of dinosaurs and centres around Sid the Sloth and his jealousy of Manny and Ellie’s parenthood. Having kidnapped a number of dinosaur eggs to fashion a motley family from, the hapless sloth manages to get the attentions of some of the larger and more dangerous predators who have survived extinction in an underground paradise.

What follows is a typically farcical romp through the world of prehistory as the group – comprised of Manny (Ray Romano), Ellie (Queen Latifah), Diego (Denis Leary), Crash (Seann William Scott), and Eddie (Chris Wedge) – go in search of Sid. There’s little subtlety present in the Ice Age movies, and you’re unlikely to find this one any different. It’s laughs all the way with the beautifully anthropomorphized characters set against the painstakingly created environments. Indeed, if nothing else, the sheer technical achievement is something to behold.

Each of the group sees plenty of narrative time, so regardless of who the kids’ favourites are, they’ll enjoy the show, as Deigo the sabre-tooth tiger, for example, begins to lament his role as the cute house cat, and endeavours to reinvent himself as having a little more bite. Crash and Eddie provide plenty of double team slapstick and subversive humour, while the ever-tragic Scrat, in between searching for his precious acorn, finds the love of his life, Scratte.

There are a few new characters to get to know as well. The presence of a few dinosaur characters will please the kids, and the addition of Manny and Ellie’s newborn, Peaches, will tug violently on your heart strings as she steps into the world. The biggest addition to the crew is Simon Pegg’s character of Buck the weasel. Buck is an utterly single-minded dinosaur hunter with one eye and a bag full of crazy, who’s sure to elicit giggles from the entire audience.

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is an obvious choice for a family day out, and while it might not seem quite so obvious if you don’t have kids, it’ll certainly be worth a viewing over a lazy weekend if you’re in need of a few chuckles. If you have difficulty accepting the historically erroneous presence of the dinosaurs, then yes, you’re probably not the intended audience, but for the most part, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting from Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and that’s something of an accolade.