MOVIES · STORY NOTES

Ice Age: Continental Drift

Ice Age: Continental Drift is a 2012 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Steve Martino and Michael Thurmeier and written by Michael Berg and Jason Fuchs. Produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios, it is the fourth installment in the Ice Age film series following Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009).

Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Ice Age: Continental Drift · CC BY-SA 4.0. Text adapted for this entry.

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD

The story, including the ending.

These write-ups discuss major events and outcomes for this listed work. Each source and its coverage are identified below.

Source plot synopsis — includes the ending

Many years following the third film's events, Manny and Ellie are living happily with their now teenage daughter Peaches. While Ellie tries supporting her daughter, Manny becomes exceedingly overprotective. Meanwhile, Sid's family returns, but only to drop off the elderly Granny before promptly abandoning them both. Manny then catches Peaches hanging out with a group of mammoths he does not approve of, causing friction between the duo.
Shortly after, a sudden continental break-up incited by Scrat separates Manny from Ellie, Peaches, Crash & Eddie, simultaneously trapping him on a moving chunk of ice with Sid, Granny and Diego in tow. Manny has no choice but to ride out the current. At the same time, a giant land shift encroaches on Ellie, Peaches and those remaining on land, forcing them to make their way towards a land bridge in order to get to safety.
After extremely violent weather pushes them further away from land, Manny's group is captured by a band of pirates sailing on a floating iceberg led by Gigantopithecus Captain Gutt, who attempts to press them into his crew. When they refuse, Gutt tries to execute them; this leads to their escape, which inadvertently causes the ship to sink. Gutt's first mate, female sabretooth Shira, reluctantly joins them when they rescue her after she is left for dead.
The Herd washes ashore on Switchback Cove, which gives a current back to their home. After discovering that Gutt has enslaved a group of hyrax and is using them to build a new ship, Manny coordinates a plan with some more hyraxes to free their comrades and steal the ship. Just before they manage to escape aboard it, Diego tries to convince Shira to leave the pirates and join The Herd so she can live a better life, but Shira, while initially accepting, instead stays behind and slows Gutt down so The Herd can escape. Gutt forms yet another ship and plots to avenge himself.
Meanwhile, during the animals' trek to the land bridge back at the mainland, Peaches joins the group of mammoths from before, only to find out that they do not care about the ongoing danger and they look down on her for being friends with molehog Louis, who has a secret crush on her. When Louis overhears Peaches telling the other mammoths that they are not actually friends, she has a change of heart about her new friends, berates them for their cocky attitudes and leaves them.
After narrowly escaping a colony of sirens, Manny, Sid, Diego and Granny return home and find that not only has the land bridge been destroyed, but Gutt has beaten them and taken Ellie, Peaches and the rest of The Herd hostage. A fight ensues, as Granny's pet Livyatan, Precious, arrives and fends off the pirate, while Manny triumphs over Gutt, who is subsequently eaten alive by a siren. Peaches happily reconciles with both Manny and Louis and Shira joins The Herd, starting a relationship with Diego. With their former home destroyed by the land shift, the entire Herd relocates to a lush island, where the hyraxes from earlier have already started rebuilding their civilization.
Meanwhile, having embarked on a journey to find it using an acorn-shaped map, Scrat discovers the island of Scratlantis, but his obession with acorns ends up causing the island and the water to sink into a hole, leaving Scrat in the middle of a desert.
Sources and content license

Source and revision history ↗ · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Ice Age: Continental Drift. Section headings and formatting adjusted. · Content license