'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs' (PG)

If your kids can name a stegosaurus, an ankylosaur, and a kentrosaur, "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" will be a huge hit. On the other hand, there's typical cartoon action to keep them motivated, too. Oh, and don't forget that it was created in 3-D, which adds to the entertainment.

When Fox released the first "Ice Age" in 2002, the huge hit led to a sequel, and now for "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," rather than the filmmakers resting on their laurels, they've decided to merge their blended "Ice Age" family with prehistoric creatures.

The lush world provides a sharp contrast to the wintry environs of the first two "Ice Age" films, but favorites from the series are back to roam a different underground with some new creatures thrown into the mix including Buck (Simon Pegg), a one-eyed weasel with an Australian accent who accidentally fell into the dino world below. It's his pirating ways that take "Ice Age's" original heroes down some dangerous paths.

The gang's grand adventure starts out with Manny, the wooly mammoth (the voice of Ray Romano), getting pre-parenting jitters about his expectant wife, Ellie (Queen Latifah). All of this parenting chatter brings up different emotions for others who share the neighborhood. For Sid, the sloth (a lisping John Leguizamo), the arrival of the new baby mammoth makes him feel left out. For Diego, the saber-tooth tiger (Denis Leary), maybe this is the time for him to move on.

None of this really matters, however, and kids will get jittery over all this emotional baggage, but soon enough the action comes creeping in. Sid stumbles upon a way that he can feel needed as a father and the mayhem begins. When he comes across three T. Rex eggs, he decides to make the babies his own. Trying to get the three oversized ovals back to his camp has enough physical comedy to create plenty of excitement and will keep the kindergarten set entertained.

The dinos eventually hatch, and although they are cute and cuddly, they wreak havoc in the neighborhood. They tear apart a playland Manny has constructed for his new arrival and gobble up some of the neighborhood kid animals (no animated animals were harmed in the making of the film as the baby T-Rexes are forced to cough up the kids).

When the mother comes looking for her baby dinos, she captures Sid and takes him light years away from his Ice Age habitat. Sid's de facto family, Manny, Ellie, Crash, Eddie and Diego decide they have to rescue their pal and will do whatever it takes, even if it means tackling a mysterious world beneath the ice.

It's the usual fish-out-of water adventures that get the characters in trouble, stumbling into unchartered territories, coming face to face with some angry creatures including a male T. Rex that Buck has been battling for years.

Outside of the dino world, there's still plenty brewing in the Ice Age. Favorite recurring character Scrat, the squirrel-like creature who is forever chasing down an elusive acorn, this time finds that he's torn between the nut and a female of his species. She, of course, is after the acorn. A parodied song of the '70s hit "Alone Again (Naturally)," written from the acorn's point of view is classic, and is a definite comic moment for parents to enjoy.