Ice Age - Character Design Analysis

I love the Character Design for Ice Age, especially that of the character Roshan. I find it brilliant how they made a character look so cute yet maintain the neanderthal, inuit style appearance. With the unusually elongated rectangular shaped head, eyes far apart and chubby cheeks with the black dread-like hair. These facial properties make him differ from other cute child characters which usually consist of huge exaggerated eyes and tiny mouths and round chubby faces;

I think his mannerisms play a massive part in how we perceive him as vulnerable and cute however;

And there is nothing more adorable when you see him wrapped up in the brown shoal with only his little face exposed.

I also love the incorporation of neanderthal on the characters of Roshans mum and dad (Nadia and Runar)

The distanced eyes and, widened heads long noses with large bridges and larger hands are all neanderthal elements and go towards making the humans seem very primitive and therefore on a par with the animals, which are the basis of the whole story.

It is clever how they have made the humans and animals coexist in style. With Sid having far apart eyes too and many of the animals having small eyes in comparison to their large face shape, matching the style of the humans. This is reflective of that time period, when humans were on the same level as animals, we coexisted, unlike today.