If it’s going to be too rainy or too hot in your neck of the woods, I highly suggest packing everyone up  and heading over to the nearest movie theater to watch this summer’s blockbuster, Ice Age 4 Continental Drift.

O, S and I were invited by The Moms to preview the fourth installment of the family movie series. The movie follows the adventures of Manny (RayRomano), Diego (Denis Leary) Sid (John Leguizamo) and Ellie (Queen Latifah) as well as some new characters played by popular artists like Nicki Minaj and Drake, and Jennifer Lopez.

What we enjoyed about this Ice Age 4 Continental Drift is that the focus is on family – the family that you are born into and the family that you make. When Manny (Romano) and Ellie’s (Queen Latifah) teenage mammoth Peaches (Keke Palmer), wants to stay out late to hang out with her friends and has a crush on the popular boy, the story line hits close to home for all of us parents (of course we aren’t wooly mammoths, but you get the picture.

The movie also focuses on the friendship that Manny, Diego and Sid have when they go up against some prehistoric sea pirates played by Peter Dinklage (from “Game of Thrones” fame), Jennifer Lopez, Nick Frost, Aziz Ansari, and Alain Chabat.

The film does have a few fight scenes and at first, the head pirate, Captain Gutt (Dinklage) was a little scary for S, our 4 1/2 year old. She did get over it  pretty quickly and got into the fight scenes with the “bad pirates”. I overheard the girls laugh at many scenes and I enjoyed the adult humor (Manny gives a nod to Daniel Day-Lewis’ character in “The Last of the Mohicans”  and yells to Ellie, “No matter where you are, I will find you!”)

So, go on, splurge on the 3-D movie tickets. You’ll enjoy it, your kids will enjoy it and you’ll have some respite from the rain and/or heat.

Click on this link for Ice Age 4 Continental Drift movie times in Battery Park’s Regal Cinema movie times.

Click here for all other Ice Age 4 Continental Drift movie theaters and times.

For more information, visit Ice Age 4 Continental Drift’s official website.

{I was not compensated for this post in any way. We did receive tickets for the movie’s  pre-screening. All opinions expressed are always mine.}