Sam Urdank Jay Leno voices Fast Tony in Ice Age The Meltdown. "Ice Age: The Meltdown" Rating: PG for some mild language and innuendo Starring: Voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary and Queen Latifah. Director: Carlos Saldanha. Family Film Guide: 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' 'Ice Age: The Meltdown' Web site

I have no agenda in America's culture war. I neither want our moral tolerances to advance liberally nor for us to conservatively drag our heels. But I can't help but think it's disturbing when an animated film intended for kids goes out of its way to include language that I can't repeat in a Post-Gazette review.

Some examples:

Several animated animal characters of "Ice Age: The Meltdown" talking about a young untamed burro call him a "wild ass kid."

As glaciers recede, an ocean of water is blocked by a barrier of melting ice. One character looks up and sighs, "Dam ..." The implication is obvious.

Two mammoths who may be the last on earth, a shy male and a naive female, discuss what steps should be taken to propagate the species. When he suggests that their physical union is a sort of obligation, she snaps that he's not sleeping with her "tonight or any night."

Her friends, upon hearing of his proposal, call him a "pervert."

A pervert? In an animated kid flick? What do kids think? What should I tell my 5-year-old nephew who accompanied me to the screening if he asks what that is?

"Ice Age: The Meltdown" is rated PG -- "parental guidance suggested, some material might not be suitable for children." The film's creator, 20th Century Fox, isn't trying to slip the language and innuendo past parents -- the film's PG rating is emphasized on promotional posters.

But I have to ask myself, could this movie have been just as funny, just as dramatic, just as good without these references? The half-star shy of a perfect rating that I gave this film is, perhaps, a reflection of my own concerns about all of the above.

Otherwise, "Ice Age: The Meltdown" is a wonderful film that reunites an unlikely multi-species family in a fun action-packed adventure. The voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary return, as the animated prehistoric animal gang confronts a danger more chilling than ice: water. As the glaciers begin to melt, the icy world as they know it is about to change radically. The only way to survive is for each beast to confront personal insecurities and character flaws, respect his colleagues and work together. And in a fun sidebar, Scrat, that determined little squirrel from the original film, is still trying to bag that acorn.

New characters bring new dimensions to the film. Queen Latifah voices a confused mammoth who thinks she's a possum, and Seann William Scott and Josh Peck are hilarious as her troublesome "brothers."

We're at least several years beyond "Oh my gosh, check out the technology," but the complex, three-dimensional animation is truly wonderful.

My nephew is among the low age range of "Ice Age: The Meltdown's" target demographic. Young teens at the high end won't hear anything they don't hear every day in school. Parental discretion and the tolerances of individual families should determine what's appropriate for everyone in between.