ICE AGE 3: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (U).

Family/Comedy. Featuring the voices of John Leguizamo, Ray Romano, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Simon Pegg. Directors: Carlos Saldanha, Mike Thurmeier.

DINOSAURS ruled the Earth for more than 100 million years, but the third instalment of the computer-animated Ice Age series will struggle to reign at the UK box office for more than two weeks.

The colourful follow-up to Ice Age 2: The Meltdown plunders from Jules Verne’s A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth as the cuddly critters discover an entire eco-system beneath the ice.

Fearsome predators roam this vast, subterranean kingdom as well as a daredevil weasel, whose gung-ho antics will coax a chuckle from younger viewers.

Ice Age 3 is certainly bright and breezy, but Carlos Saldanha and Mike Thurmeier’s film is the weakest adventure so far, lacking inventive visuals or a clever screenplay to appeal simultaneously to adults and children.

Sid the sloth (voiced by Leguizamo) yearns for a family of his own so he ‘appropriates’ a nest of dinosaur eggs.

“I’d like to present Egbert, Shelley and Yoko,” beams Sid, proudly showing off his surrogate family.

When the young carnivores hatch, their mother roars through the camp, carrying off her brood plus Sid to her nest. The sloth's friends, Manny the woolly mammoth (Romano) and Diego the sabre-toothed tiger (Leary), embark on a perilous rescue mission. They are accompanied by the love of Manny's life, Ellie (Latifah), who is preparing to give birth to their first mini-mammoth.

Mischievous possum ‘brothers’ Crash (Scott) and Eddie (Peck) tag along for the ride The arduous quest takes the friends into a mysterious underground world where the flora is almost as deadly as the fauna and a loveable, one-eyed weasel called Buck (Pegg) is on a mission to hunt a dinosaur called Rudy.

Ice Age 3 screens in 3D at selected cinemas around the UK, but – unusually – the eye-popping technology doesn’t enhance the viewing experience.

Indeed, visuals look flat for almost the entire 94 minutes, apart from the adrenaline-pumping thrill of a couple of first-person-perspective chase sequences. Audiences will have just as much fun with the traditional 2D version and won’t have to worry about the occasional queasiness caused by the natty plastic goggles.

Once again, Scrat the sabre-toothed squirrel steals the show with his relentless pursuit of a tasty acorn.

This time, he meets his match in the sexy Scratte, who shamelessly flutters her eyelashes to distract her rival from his delicious goal.

The scene where he inadvertently waxes his furry chest with a tar-covered acorn is hysterical.

Vocal performances are solid including newcomer Pegg as the eccentric, knife-wielding saviour who talks to a rock like it's a mobile phone and confides excitedly: “Let me tell you how I used a sharpened shell to turn a T-Rex into a T-Rachel.”

Wholesome messages about family are laid on thicker than Manny’s woolly coat.