The bar for 3-D animated movies is now set very high indeed. This year alone, we've seen the skewed demonic fairy tale "Coraline," the pop-up book clever "Monsters Vs. Aliens" and the wondrous and heart-lifting "Up." Make no mistake - these movies are tough acts to follow.

So maybe that explains why "Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs" has a little trouble measuring up. It's a perfectly amiable animated comedy, visually colorful and sleek. Yet after a sensational opening few minutes, in which Scrat the saber-toothed squirrel does high-flying battle with the squirrel he loves over a tasty acorn, the movie settles into a mode of sweet, safe and slightly dull family fun.

The glacier-happy regulars have been hanging out for so long now, they seem a bit jaded. Manny and Ellie, the woolly mammoths voiced by Ray Romano and Queen Latifah, are set to have a baby, and Diego the saber-toothed tiger, voiced by Denis Leary, is still a freelance grouch.

Leave it to John Leguizamo's Sid, the lisping sloth who sounds like a more slap-happy Sylvester the Cat, to discover three eggs that hatch into baby T-Rexes. These cuddly little monsters lead them all to a viney-green underground prehistoric jungle packed with dinosaurs.

A fight with a massive carnivorous plant is neatly executed, and the whole "Lost World on acid" look of the movie is terrific. Yet these days, that's not enough.

I predict little kids will like "Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs," but the trouble with the movie is that it just isn't very funny. The first two "Ice Age" movies popped but this one just lopes along.