It is another typical, animated, family-film that comes out every six months. It comes with adventure, physical comedy, discovering who you are, and, of course, a perfect ending to wrap it all up with a pleasant and positive message.
I have to be honest, I thought the movie started out kind of slow. And not just slow concerning story and plot; I thought the animation was slow. At the start of the film, we are introduced to a family of cavemen named the Croods. Grug, the father, is always trying to keep his family safe and protected from all the things that lurk outside the cave. Grug is the typical over-bearing father and he shows it through his storytelling; every night before bed, he tells his family stories of people who try something new, venture out of the caves or do not listen to their father. The people in the story always die. Eep, Grug’s daughter, has a curious personality and a longing for something more, something beyond the walls of the cave.
One night, Eep sneaks out of the cave for the first time because she hears something off in the distance. As she gets closer to investigate, she finds a boy by the name of Guy carrying what Eep is sure to be a little sun on the end of a stick (fire). Guy warns Eep that the world was ending and that she needed to leave the area and go to higher ground. Eep returns home to the cave, but is left with much curiosity about the boy and where he was heading.
Throughout the first 20 minutes of the movie, the animation was boring. The same brown and tan colors were used throughout the same landscape. But all that changes when an earthquake destroys the Croods cave and they are forced to look beyond the walls of their demolished cave into a new landscape of colorful foliage, new things to eat and all kinds of different threats to the family.
Through the rest of the movie, the Croods embark on an adventure of trying to reach the higher ground that Guy suggested and are met by all sorts of obstacles and dangers.
One of the strong messages behind the script is that change is not a bad thing, but necessary for survival. This is portrayed in the humorous interactions between Grug, the conservative, protective and ritualistic father, and Guy, the new-idea thinker. Another positive message was that there is always hope for a better tomorrow, and that is what makes life worth living. This is seen as the characters head toward an uncertain future.
The strongest message of the movie is that survival is not the point of life. Eep is the one that carries this message as she reminds her father throughout the movie that she is “tired of surviving and wants to start living.”
After the Croods escape the cave scene, the animation is brilliant and one of the best parts of the movie. I thought Nicolas Cage (Grug) was a weak choice to play the demanding father and I think it showed in his acting.
I think one thing that has made animated family films so popular recently is the fact that they have had great humor for all ages in the films. I think this was lacking in The Croods. There were funny parts, no doubt, but compared to other films in the same genre I thought The Croods was lacking consistent humor.
The messages throughout the film were positive and consistent. The action was great and the animation was eventually fantastic. Acting was sub-par and humor was sporadic. I give The Croods three out of five stars.
