Ice Age is a classic go-to family film for many reasons. Its content is unique in the world of children's films, featuring a ragtag group of loner animals who end up teaming together to get a baby human back to its "herd", and the characters themselves are lovable and endlessly entertaining.
Possibly the best thing of all about the film is the laughs that viewers can rely on. No matter if it's viewing it for the 50th time after a childhood spent watching it every day, or re-watching with one's own kids, the first Ice Age movie packs in humor that lifts and delights.
Come On, Kids, You Can Play Extinction Later
An animal evacuating the local area along with everyone else urges his kids to stop playing in a mud puddle in which they are pretending to be stuck. The scene is reminiscent of those often seen in nature documentaries wherein some animal tragically dies, contributing to its extinction--here, the comment is dark but ironically funny, as the scene is self-aware.
Give It Up, Sid. You Know Humans Can't Talk
The animals have a humorous, ongoing understanding that humans are generally less intelligent than they are. The way the characters are made to talk about humans mimics how humans in real life speak of animals, assuming themselves superior. Here, Manny scorns Sid for being so naive to think humans could actually communicate--perhaps similar to the way some would mock those who speak to their pet dogs or cats!
Sid, Lord Of The Flame
In a classic line from the movie, Sid says this after lighting a campfire for the group. It's a funny scene particularly because fire in the time period is often a big deal (as humans have only recently discovered it), and this is echoed, and made quite comical, in an animal delighting in such human activity. It's especially enjoyable to see the group joking and playing around with one another, a moment of their tensions beginning to dissolve.
I Ain't Exactly Lactating Right Now, Pal
The group tries to figure out how to feed the baby, who has been crying nonstop with no sign as to why. When they finally consider he might be hungry and Manny suggests Sid feed him, Sid comes back with a typically witty and ridiculous response, providing a sly example of the adult humor that is woven into the dialogue of the film--kids might not know what "lactating" is, but adults will certainly chuckle.
They Gagged Me With A Field Mouse
Sid explains how his family has treated him in the past when it comes to setting out on a trip. Sid reveals just how unlikable his family finds him to be, illustrating the lengths they go to to make sure they don't have to bring him anywhere with them. This is a play on just how annoying Sid is meant to be--despite how lovable he becomes in the process.
You're An Embarrassment to Nature, You Know That?
Sid is a constant source of ridicule for Manny, giving him ample opportunities to use Sid as a reference point for Manny to make comments about the animal kingdom in general.
While animals are often thought of as agile and much more adept at navigating the natural world, Sid manages to be a klutz in nearly every scenario--in this case, trying to climb a cliff face and promptly falling down.
There Goes Our Last Female
The Dodo scene is one of the most absurd and funniest in the movie. A bizarre group of birds so concerned with the end of the world as they know it that they are comically portrayed to be running themselves like a military operation. When one of the Dodos dies amidst a moment of panic, the rest lament that they just lost their last female--a joke relating to the current state of animals banding together to survive the long cold winter of the ice age that is somehow made both tragic and hilarious.
That's It, You're Out Of The Herd
Sid, Diego, and Manny finally establish themselves as a unit, or, as Manny asserts, a "herd". This is a sign of them accepting one another and sharing a bond.
When they find out that Diego has been deceiving them all along, Sid makes the obvious point that Diego is no longer welcome in their "herd".
Diego, Spit That Out. You Don't Know Where It's Been.
It's an ongoing joke throughout the Ice Age franchise that Sid is dirty and unfortunate. When Manny finds Diego with Sid clasped between his teeth, his only response is to make a comment about the health risks Diego is taking, a joke harkening to something many a person has heard people tell their dogs after they drag something unfortunate in their mouths.
Survival. Of The. Fittest!
Sid, known for being the lazy, least useful member of the group, has his moment as he jumps atop an attacking tiger to get him stuck in a hole. As he jumps, he yells the well-known term "survival of the fittest"--quite funny, considering Sid isn't exactly the fittest. This moment features Sid at some of his funniest and showcases the great humor of the character that is only rivaled by that of Scrat, who doesn't technically even have lines to quote.