For the last 14 years, we’ve followed hapless sabre-tooth squirrel Scrat as he’s caused fissures in icebergs, catalysed the breakup of Pangaea (a bit like Brexit, but geological) and, most surprisingly, discovered an underground world populated by dinosaurs. 

Up to now the action has stayed firmly within this stratosphere – or at least underneath it. But in Collision Course, Scrat’s dogged pursuit of an acorn sees him take an accidental trip into deepest darkest space, propelling our heroes into a celestial game of pinball more explosive than a public common on Fireworks Night. Oh, and the mother of all asteroids is heading straight for Earth.

Luckily, our favourite – if slightly unhinged – one-eyed weasel Buck (Simon Pegg), last seen kicking ass in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, has returned to help. Stealing all the best lines (“You may be Jurassic but I am fantastic”), his eye-patch at a rakish angle, Buck hits upon an off-the-wall solution. And things get a little, well, far out Dudes.

Also along the for the ride is a good-natured but accident-prone sloth Sid and the rest of his unconventional herd family: sabre-tooth tigers Diego and Shira; woolly mammoths Manny, Ellie and their daughter Peaches; and their adoptive opossum brothers Crash and Eddie. 

While everyone is concerned by the impending apocalypse, Sid is more preoccupied with his love life. Heck, everyone's coupled up and even little Peaches is engaged these days. So Sid takes a stab at internet dating and we get an appearance from his zany ex-girlfriend, Francine (Melissa Raunch from The Big Bang Theory). 

Best of all we get to meet Brooke, a ground sloth with an actual crush on silly Sid, voiced by pop star Jessie J. She introduces the herd to a spiritual leader called Shangri-Llama (you guessed it, a llama, voiced by Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and things start to get even weirder than usual.

Ultimately, all our favourite Ice Age friends are back with explosions, asteroids, hippies, dinosaurs and space ships. What’s not to love about the latest Scrat-astrophe? Get yourself to Darlington Vue.