'Ice Age 4' Animator Dan Segarra Talks about his Craft

"Ice Age 4" animator Dan Segarra. (Greg Maurino)

Ice Age is back… again!

“Ice Age 4: Continental Drift” is set to hit theaters on Friday, and movie animator Dan Segarra assures audiences they will love it as much as the first three.

“It’s my favorite movie,” confessed Segarra, “it has a message that family can be anyone you consider family and that you love. It’s not just about blood and that’s what makes it an Ice Age movie. It has the consistency and the heart.”

Segarra's father moved to Chicago from Puerto Rico and struggled to make a living as a bus driver before going back for his mother. The family is still in Chicago today, but the animator maintains his roots by visiting his family as often as he can.

He said he was influence by his parents to pursue animation.

“My family is creative and likes to draw; they have drawings hung up on all the walls. My great aunt, too, used to sell her paintings in Puerto Rico. [Creativity] is something that has definitely come from that side of the family,” he added.

Segarra, who joined the Ice Age franchise a year ago, said he is loving what he does.

"I love what I do and I love the challenge of living up to that quality,” he said.

In the fourth installment of the Blue Sky creation, the classic characters, woolly mammoth, Manny, saber-tooth tiger, Diego and Sid the sloth are sent in yet another whirlwind adventure.

This time, saber-tooth squirrel, Scrat, accidentally causes a “Continental Drift” in his desperate quest for the acorn that has been the object of his crazed desire in every Ice Age film.

The original trio is joined in their adventure by Sid’s crazy grandmother (Wanda Sykes), and must fight to find their way back to their families after the drift leads them to be captured by a band of pirates. One of the pirates is a saber-toothed cat, Shira, played by Latina powerhouse, Jennifer Lopez.

“I love the pirates!” tells Segarra of getting to work on the scenes that take place on the pirate ship. “Gut is my favorite character, he’s so cool and physical. He has a presence on screen because he is so menacing.”

As for after Ice Age, the Puerto Rican-American animator said he’s already started working on Blue Sky’s next project, “Epic.”

It “looks incredible!”