“The Croods” is DreamWorks Animation’s first film of 2013 (they followed with “Turbo” 4-months later). It’s directed by Kirk DeMicco (“Space Chimps”) and two-time Oscar nominee Chris Sanders (“How to Train Your Dragon”, “Lilo & Stitch”). While “The Croods” isn’t as funny or charming as any of those films, it is visually stunning and has its moments.
Nicolas Cage leads an all-star voice cast (a DreamWorks trademark) as Grug. He’s the father and leader of the last living caveman family on Earth. Grug and his wife Ugga (voiced by Catherine Keener) have three kids: a son named Thunk, a rambunctious young daughter named Sandy (part Pebbles, part Bam-Bam, part Tasmanian Devil) and a teenage daughter named Eep (Emma Stone), who is the focal point of the story.
Eep is not a fan of her father’s rules for keeping the family safe. Grug doesn’t like anyone to venture outside of their cave on their own, especially once the sun goes down. He is the ultimate over-protective father. But Eep is tired of living in fear so one night she sneaks out, following a strange light, and meets-up with a cave-boy named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) and his pet sloth Belt – who is also his belt. Guy introduces Eep to fire and explains how the world is changing and that everyone needs to move to a safer area in order to survive. Grug doesn’t like Guy or the budding romance between him and his daughter, but he does take the boy’s advice and soon the family and their young leader begin a journey to find a new home, discovering many of life’s wonders along the way.
“The Croods” is a very simple film. There’s no main villain, so it’s basically these eight characters (and a few creatures they encounter) on a prehistoric road trip for 90 minutes. The script puts them into a series of sticky situations and then resorts to slapstick sequences to get them out. As someone who’s not a fan of silly, over-the-top physical comedy, even in animated films, I got tired of this quickly. There’s a lot of energy in these fast-paced scenes and technically they look great, but there’s just too much wild and crazy action.
The rest of the time “The Croods” is quite talky, which is a reason why younger audience members may lose interest. Outside of a running gag involving Belt there aren’t a lot of big laughs. And the story, much like last November’s “Rise of the Guardians”, drags in the middle.
There are some messages – that it’s good to try new things, and the subplot about a father needing to let go of his little girl. Both pretty basic and familiar. For a film with so few characters, it’s critical that they’re all extremely well-developed and instantly likeable. Unfortunately, that’s not the case here. While I’m sure the idea was for Eep to be the break-out character (kind of a prehistoric version of Merida from “Brave”) she never reaches that level. Instead, the focus shifts to the rivalry between Grug and Guy. And the other family members are all forgettable, including a stereotypical mother-in-law voiced by Cloris Leachman.
On the positive side, the voice cast is spot on, led by Cage and Reynolds, who also voices the title snail “Turbo”. As is always the case with DreamWorks Animation, the look of “The Croods” is gorgeous. There are some truly beautiful images of nature, which plays a major role in the plot. The score does a great job of maintaining the tone of the film and the hand-drawn animation in the open is a nice touch. There are some genuinely funny and clever moments in “The Croods”, just not enough of them. However, there is an impressive sequence late in the film that rivals some of Disney and Pixar’s most memorable moments and this gives the storyline a much-needed emotional boost.
“The Croods” is rated PG for some mild action/violence. It’s appropriate for kids 8 and up. It isn’t one of DreamWorks’ best, but is still worth venturing out of your cave to see.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “The Croods” gets a C+.