Ice Age: Continental Drift

Queen Latifah, Drake, Nicki Minaj and Jennifer Lopez — it sounds like a great list of collaborators for a movie soundtrack or benefit concert.

Unfortunately, none of them use their musical talents in Ice Age: Continental Drift, the lackluster fourth installment in the animated franchise that started a decade ago.

The list of voice talent is impressively deep in this latest adventure featuring our trio of talking prehistoric animal heroes, but the script, well, not so much.

The film opens with a bit of a family vibe, as mammoth Manny (voiced by Ray Romano) is happily married to Ellie (Latifah) with a rebellious teenage daughter (Keke Palmer). Sloth Sid (John Leguizamo), meanwhile, is visited by various family members including his frisky grandmother (Wanda Sykes).

Later, shifting icebergs cause the group to become separated, stranding Manny, Sid, Granny and saber-toothed tiger Diego (Denis Leary) on a floating island away from their families. The film turns toward their efforts to reunite with loved ones, and their battles with an ape-like pirate (Peter Dinklage) and his crew that includes a female tiger (Lopez).

Along the way, they meet up with assorted creatures, including a bumbling mole (Josh Gad), an army of shrew warriors, and a handful of alluring sea sirens.

As with the previous installments, the film is visually striking, including plentiful 3D effects and impressive background detail.

However, the silly plot feels more like Saturday morning cartoon fodder than a full-length feature. Small children might be captivated by the fast-paced animal antics and harmless sight gags, but unlike its predecessors, Continental Drift doesn’t have much to offer their parents.

The overall lack of freshness and charm, both in the characters and the jokes, makes this sequel more arduous than the previous two, and a far cry from the original. Even the obligatory intermittent vignettes involving Scrat the neurotic squirrel and his elusive acorn grow tiresome.

One activity to pass the time might be attempting to match up characters with their celebrity voices. Among the supporting cast are Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Patrick Stewart, Aziz Ansari and Seann William Scott, as well as the aforementioned hip-hop stars.

As long as there’s money to be made, then the franchise likely will keep going. However, the creative potential of the series at this point seems to have washed out to sea.

Rated PG, 92 minutes.