The Croods: Movie Review

The Croods: Movie Review

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, Cloris Leachman
Director: Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders

The latest prehistoric animated outing arrives in time for the Easter holidays.

And as Dreamworks Animation begins its partnership with 20th Century Fox, it seems rather apt their first film is set in the dinosaur world, given how much success they've had with the Ice Age series.

Emma Stone stars as Eep, the eldest girl of the Croods, a family of Neanderthals getting by thanks to the over-protective nature of her father, Grug (Nicolas Cage, in one of his best performances in a while) who simply wants to keep the family safe from harm and trapped within a cave. But Eep is growing up and wants to spend more time in the sun rather than the dark of the cave.

However, when nature intervenes, their cave's destroyed and the continents begin to separate, the Croods have no choice but to move on to find a new cave. And things are further complicated when Guy (Ryan Reynolds) shows up - a smart, thinking and inventive chap, with diametrically opposed ideologies to Grug. Eep falls for him but his attitude puts him on a collision path with Grug... Will the Croods survive the new world?

Dreamworks The Croods movie is, without a doubt, a blast of animated air for the holiday period.

With an opening that exudes CGI confidence as the Croods hurtle around the landscape trying to catch their food, The Croods movie hits the ground running as it crafts together a world of colourful critters and hilarious hijinks. Whereas Scrat had his acorn to chase, the Croods have an egg which provides them with sustenance - a parallel which can't be ignored in this latest prehistoric outing.

With her waving red hair, Eep is the latest redhead after Brave to grace the screen but it's the animation and the world around the Croods movie which scores highly. From its bright colours to its general lunacy of pace, there's plenty to keep the kids entertained in this - with its supporting character of Belt, a sort of pinkish/ purple long armed sloth providing some of the film's best laughs.

Which is a good thing because there's scant story to see the film through to be honest. It's simply a tale of a family trying to find their way into a new life - and the usual father / daughter tensions shining through as the girl-meets-her-first-boy and father-struggles-to- reconcile-with-the-possibility-he-will lose-her-to-a-younger, smarter version of himself. The whole family as Neanderthals and new guy as an intelligent next stage works well as an allegory (who hasn't thought their family were primitive when it comes to being impressed by a new suitor?) but it's anything but subtle as the occasional ACME style zaniness plays itself out.

Still, in terms of the journey, it's one which is worth taking - even though it lacks a fully rounded and expanded story, it pushes family values right in the final stages and provides a gooey resolution to the Eep / Grug tensions, The Croods is still a film which will delight many - no matter how young or old they are and regardless of whether they're Neanderthals or otherwise.

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