The slogan accompanying the Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs poster wittily promises you’ll “Laugh your ice off”.  Whilst the kids in the audience might  shed a few icicles, this 3D threequel contains too few laughs and too many clichés to defrost anyone else. If only Blue Sky studios were capable of writing a screenplay that matches the quality of their animation, which is particularly dazzling this time round thanks to the introduction of a more luscious jungle palate. But aside from the reliably fantastic acorn-loving squirrel Scrat and the introduction of Simon Pegg’s delightfully nutty weasel Buck, there’s not much else for audiences over the age of 10 to warm to during this third, and hopefully final, Ice Age.

In a true narrative convention, Sid (John Leguizamo) the sloth is taken captive by a thought-to-be-extinct T-Rex mummy, causing Manny (Ray Romano) the mammoth and the rest of his oddball herd set out to retrieve their friend. After they follow the dinosaur’s tracks through a crack in the ice, they discover a jungle paradise beneath which is populated by all sorts of gigantic flora and fauna hoping to turn them into dinner. Whilst sabre-tooth Diego (Denis Leary) and goofball opossum twins Crash (Sean William Scott) and Eddie (Josh Peck) take to the change of scenery, Manny would much rather his pregnant partner Ellie (Queen Latifah) give birth to their child in a safer environment.  They enlist the navigational help of the eccentric knife wielding weasel Buck (Simon Pegg), who they hope will help them find Sid and return home before the baby is born.

Maybe my middling experience owes to not seeing Ice Age 3 in 3D. The film is noticeably tailored for the third dimension as there’s a great deal more action and a great deal less witty banter, especially the type geared towards adults.  The herd spend most of the film’s 95 minute running time outrunning vicious dinosaurs, balancing atop of shaky rock platforms and  dwindling on the edge of a flowing lava-fall. I do hope each of these scenarios seemed fresh and engaging in 3D, because they certainly didn’t in 2D. It’s not that the animation isn’t stellar, because it is; Blue Sky does a particularly brilliant job at animating the adorable baby T-Rex trio (kids will want these in plush form, trust me). The problem I have with the extra dimension is that it’s allowing animators to mask lazy storytelling with eye-popping effects. Instead of engaging audiences with an original concept, Ice Age 3 simply takes a pedestrian one and applies it with a glossy new coat.  The ones paying for such indolence is the parents, who must now fork out twice the price for a 3D ticket to give their kids a worthwhile experience.

Mind you, not all enjoyment is reserved for the third dimension. Ice Age’s trump card has always been that much-loved squirrel Scrat (Chris Wedge), whose intermittent appearances are worth the narrative disruption. His hilariously futile quest to obtain the elusive acorn is  reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote in the classic Road Runner cartoon. This time round, he is distracted by the glamorous Scratte, who forces him to question whether there’s enough room in his life for two loves. Within the main story arch, the only character nearly as enjoyable as Scrat is newcomer Buck, an enthusiastic weasel well characterised by Simon Pegg’s energetic vocal performance. By contrast, the returning cast sound bored stiff; Ray Ramano’s dry wit as Manny only seems to work when it’s paired with Sid’s dim-witted prattle, which is a problem considering he is elsewhere for most of the film. Queen Latifah and Denis Leary as Ellie and Diego have little comedic input, unfairly leaving it up to Scrat and the slapstick tomfoolery of twins Crash and Eddie to keep this primitive comedy from going extinct.

Follow the author Anders Wotzke on Twitter.