The Croods Reviews

An 'Ice Age' rip off is what sprang to mind when seeing trailers for this, Dreamworks trying to leech off another studios ace franchise. In all fairness I still do believe 'DW' has kinda pinched the idea to a degree, 'Ice Age' is a good animated franchise and shows the prehistoric era is popular, so why not make your own eh.

The plot runs along the same kind of lines as 'Ice Age 2' and 'Ice Age 3', mixed together. The Croods must leave their home and find pastures new because of impending earthquakes and land formation which is tearing the area they know as home apart. On their journey they discover new lands which are alien to them which kinda feels like a 'lost world' theme, which would be similar to 'Ice Age 3' and various other fantasy films.

To be honest at first I really didn't like what I was seeing. I didn't like the way everything was designed, any of the characters and I didn't like the animation. Plus the start is pretty slow really, nothing much of interest happens and you start to wonder if it will be set purely within rocky terrains and dark caves the whole time.

Its only when the family must uproot and move on that the film starts to look much much better, again...a little too much like 'Ice Age 3' but lets leave that alone. Once we start to see all the colourful weird and wonderful lands, creatures, flora and fauna, I found myself enjoying the adventure a lot more (sigh of relief too I might add). Odd choice to make all the animals fantastical over realistic, not sure about that, I think it would of worked better with real accurate animals, flora and fauna etc...It might as well of been set on a distant alien planet really, it bares no proper resemblance to the real prehistoric era.

I'm still unsure about the characters though, jury's still out on them. All together they kinda reminded me of 'The Addams Family' but set in the prehistoric era, I think you can see what I mean. 'Grug' the father was a fun character voiced well by Cage, which was a surprise, really couldn't see that working out when I heard of it. I reckon Patrick Warburton would of been a good match for this 'Stan Smith-esque' caveman, but Cage does a good job. The only other character I liked was 'Grug's' son 'Thunk' voiced by Clarke Duke. A typical dim witted character but he made me smile.

Its not overly hilarious but there were times where I smirked and grinned at the lunacy. The whole sequence where 'Grug' is trying to come up with ideas to challenge 'Guy' was nicely done, some good Wil E. Coyote moments in that montage. I also liked how 'Grug' was always hoping his mother-in-law would get killed or eaten, nice touch there for the adults.

Poor start, gets much better midway through and ends with a very predictable weepy happy ending like all animated films do. I liked it but there are so many things I would change about the film if it was my project, the whole concept is pretty unoriginal now anyway thanks to a certain other franchise. Some nice touches but they don't save the film completely for me.

You know a movie isn't great when the best part is Nicolas Cage. "The Croods" is...surprisingly crude - in terms of even minimal historical accuracy and in terms of strong female character development (which I'm not sure they were going for, but if you get Emma Stone, our Big Red It Girl of the moment to voice your heroine, you ought to deliver something for her to work with besides grunty ogling of neanderthal beefcake).

The Crood family's hunting and problem solving tactics are really too cartoony, yet still not funnier or cleverer than the X's and O's of football strategery. I guess I was expecting an element of realism. The movie doesn't really start until Eep meets Guy who miraculously has AAALLLL the answers to prehistoric civilization: fire, shoes, critical thinking skills, musical instruments, slithey pets that act as belts, need I repeat: fire?? shoes??? critical thinking skills???? Where the hell did he come from?!

The Flintstones meet National Lampoon's Vacation in this very fun update of One Million Years B.C. What sets this apart is its wild imaginative indulgence as well as its disregard for physics. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

"The Croods" is about a family of cavemen who come out of the cave and start living in the world. Grug(Nicolas Cage) is the father and he wants the family to live in fear, to protect them. But his oldest daughter Eep(Emma Stone) longs for a life outside the cave, and one day meets a boy named Guy(Ryan Reynolds) who shows her the light. He talks about how the world is going to change and convinces her to get the family to leave the cave, from there it's about "old ways vs. new ways" as the boy and Grug clash over what to do to protect the family. It's kind of like a Flintstones and Ice Age movie rolled into one. While it doesn't have the Flintstones charm, it's certainly better than most of, if not all, the Ice Age movies. It's got some very funny moments and was actually a lot better than I thought. The voice cast is tremendous, and anytime you got Nicolas Cage, you've got gold. It's a little long for an animated movie, but it doesn't really over stay it's welcome. I didn't get a chance to see this in 3D, but I'm sure I'll buy the 3D blu ray when it's available. There's enough her to make me think the 3D would be outstanding. Perfect family movie, that isn't just for the kiddos.

In the age of the cave men everything was out to kill you. The wonderful opening sequence sells that point in a very morbid yet charming way. We then meet the lovely cave girl Eep and her family who are soon set out on a journey that will change their lives forever. The computer animated movie does not care about biological accuracy but instead uses its medium to throw as many insanely imaginative and colorful creatures and landscapes at the flabbergasted audience as it possibly can. From the racy egg hunt in the beginning to the almost photo realistic volcano eruption in the end, the film succeeds each time it pushes its characters in spectacular stand-offs with nature, combining breathless action with a great sense of humor. It helps that the 3D effects are deep, colorful and fun at all times, not just in a few special moments. The world-building is certainly the most breath-taking since Cameron's trip to Pandora. Sure, the plot may be somewhat along the usual lines of family values, trust and father-daughter relationships, but the resolution is actually really touching. Young and old should have a blast with this. The idea of how cave men are able to take pictures is so insane and funny, you have to see it for yourself.

I enjoyed "The Croods" much more than I thought I was going to. It just looked like silliness from start to finish, which is what it turned out to be, but it does it in such a way that it almost seems strikingly fresh! Every scene is slapstick after slapstick, but it's very well done for what it is, and all the characters are enjoyable (mainly because of the voice acting, which is great). I was very drawn in by the visuals, and even though it was clearly borrowing ideas from other films, it pulls off what most kids films do not, which is use the visuals to it's advantage. The story is been-there done-that, but I can't recall very many children's films about the world coming to an end. There were many moments throughout the course of this film that stole my heart, and by the end, I had chills all over my body at how some things just paid off so well for the story. I highly enjoyed watching "The Croods"! Highly recommended!

It's rushed, there's no real stakes even for an animated film and some of the comedy falls flat but thanks to the solid voice work, a surprisingly heartfelt second half and animation that takes full advantage of the film's Stone Age setting, ''The Croods'' is a passable DreamWorks flick.

The Croods is pure family animated fun and adventure with a heartfelt story, nice characters, and good humor. This modern day version of "The Flinstones" takes us into a world that few movies dare to cross, and it pulls it off like a charm. I usually have a soft spot for Dreamworks Animated films, they usually have good scripts and give me a great time at the movies, and this film is no exception. During this film I was laughing and enjoying myself, and I realized that film was just trying to be a good time, nothing more and nothing less. I could comment on how the film doesn't live up to some other Dreamworks kids films, but I never really expected it too. It just seemed to be a good time and will be adored by the young and old alike. It has a lot of violent and physical humor that might be too much for some parents and kids, but I believe that is one of the things that make this film so much fun. It dares to give us something that will get some criticism and I really enjoyed it. I don't expect this to be the best animated film of the year, but it proves that 2013 may be a very good year for animation. The creators are able to pull off a film that can mix many layers into one movie and it works very well. It stumbles in its story once and a while, but it always finds its way back on track with some good laughs and many fun characters. If you were scared that this was going to be a bad film, let me put those fears to rest and tell you this is pure family entertainment.


The story follows a family of cavemen called The Croods, which includes the father Grugg (Nicolas Cage), the daughter Eep (Emma Stone), the mother Ugga (Catherine Keener), the brother Thunk (Clark Duke), and Gran (Cloris Leachman). They stick to being safe and living in a cave, but when Eep leaves the cave and meets Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a wise and stealthy outsider, the Croods find themselves on an adventure for the ages.

The plot of the film is of course not very original and has been done by many films, but its setting, characters, and heart turn it into a very good story. From the first few minutes I found myself loving the characters. Everyone has a family member that they can relate to with this prehistoric family, and that just adds to the fun. Maybe you have an overprotective father, or a curious daughter, or a brainless son, or an annoying mother-in-law, or a loving wife, either way you can find something to love about this family. Kids will find love in the characters, especially a sloth-like character called Belt which is a character that surprised me with it likability. There really is no villain in this film, which may have been weird but in the end it really was just the world who was the enemy. There are many different creatures in the film that will make us laugh or even just remind of "Avatar." We have seen the "get from Point A to Point B" formula many times in many animated films, but it's nice to see that it can still be fresh with the help of smart writers. The humor involves many people getting injured or hurt, and that is obviously going to be included in a film with muscular cavemen. It's fun and good natured violence that I believe the majority of the kiddies and adults will enjoy. Many adults are dragged to stupid and pathetic animated films, but I think most that take their kids will get a pleasant surprise. We get lessons on family, love, hope, and freedom which all mix together very well in a very fun story. I had a lot of fun with this story and am glad to see Dreamworks keep up the good work.

The voice cast add to all the characters enjoyment, and may even be the reason many adults will love the characters. Nicolas Cage gives his best performance in ages, ironically in an animated film. He makes his character a lot of fun and just listening to him gives off that witty and funny voice that Cage pulls of perfectly. Emma Stone gives off that lovable and quirky performance that makes everyone love her, and it only proves my point that she is one of the most likeable actresses in Hollywood. Ryan Reynolds never fails to give us his charm that always makes him fun, and I think he was one of the most dynamic characters in the film. Catherine Keener has a good performance, and Cloris Leachman pulls off the cranky grandmother perfectly. Clark Duke will likely be a favorite with the majority of audience members, his performance as the idiot is exactly the kind of character that everyone loves. I loved the cast and it only adds to the films enjoyment.

The Croods is that kind of film that makes me love reviewing movies, because of its wit and humor it makes me just love to go to the movies. Directors Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco perfectly capture the magic and beauty of animation by giving me one of the most beautiful animated films I have seen in a long time. The world in this film is beautiful and once again proves how far animation has come over the years, and how computer-animation is just an incredible bit of technology. You can't help but compare this film to "The Flinstones" in many ways, mainly because of its love to spoof the prehistoric age, its jokes on family life, and its lovable characters. This is in no way a put down; any film that can remind me of childhood cartoons deserves to be given credit for its beauty. Adventure is the kind of thing kids love the most, and seeing that this film is aimed for kids and gives us plenty of adventure, I say this was a pretty successful film. DreamWorks Animation always has a knack for giving us good films, and as for as long as I can remember they have never had a bad film. They focus on humor and heart, which in fact what makes them so great at making animated films. The Croods is that kind of film that I will watch again and again, and it will never lose what makes it so fun.

Movies aimed at children fall into two categories; the ones that feel like a chore to sit through and the ones that are enjoyable. The Croods falls into the later telling an overly familiar story in a prehistoric like setting. It's an alright film for parents and the hyper-kinetic energy of everything on screen will keep kids amuse.

The Croods follows a prehistoric family going on a road trip to an uncharted and fantastical world. In terms of plot and characters there's little to touch upon. That's mostly because these kind of stories has already been told. So expect some familiar elements like the group lack of knowledge in traveling, conventional road trip plot points, and overused jokes. It avoids a mature ending and subject matter that would have helped resonate with the theme of family. The same goes with the staple characters in which you have the idiot, sassy grandma, an animal sidekick, the genius, and a rebellious teen. The difference between this and other similar films is the setting. The setting is very unusual which perhaps is the best aspect of the film. The world is vibrantly colorful and allows the animators to create bizarre creatures and lush landscapes. The logic in this world will get laughs and lead to head scratching; one scene involving a giant corn propelling into the sky, making fireworks, and then raining giant popcorn. The writing is tight enough for the character to be worth invested in, but the familiar plot makes it a routine road trip film that fails to elevate itself from similar movies.

The animation is heavy on the physical jokes. It's hyper-kinetic with over the top movements through it duration. If physical humor is not your thing then you'll be devoid of laughter for a good 2/3 of the film. Do expect references to modern day devices, but thankfully pop-culture references are left out. Nicholas Cage lends his voice among the talented assemble cast and holds his own. It's one of his more intentional enjoyable roles. Cage character movement is energetic, but Cage handles voice acting properly never over doing it or under doing it. Emma Stone doesn't shine in her comedy, but does excel in her dramatic acting. Ryan Reynolds relies heavily on his comedic timing. It works in his favor since he proves in the past he is a funny man. The 3D is the in your face style. It's helps elevate some scenes, but for the most part if in your face 3D is not your thing go with 2D.

The Croods contains a good cast and tight writing for the characters, but the overly familiar plot don't make it as appealing like other animated films. It's aimed toward kids and they'll likely have more fun with it for it contains a colorful world, cartoon like jokes, and is energetic. Adults can have fun with it, but not as much kids will.

While it falls short of making a Jurassic Arse out of moviegoers, The Croods sometimes manages to reinvent the wheel of cheese. Honestly, if H'Wood was going to go all prehistoric on audiences, why didn't they just present a feature-length version of Captain Caveman, a Flintstones cast-off more compelling than this all-too-modern Stone Age family? Translating the tired theme of generational discord into BC family relations, the team behind How to Train Your Dragon and - no boasting involved - Space Chimps makes sparks but not a lot of fire for families. Oh, this umpteenth tale of generational divide doesn't equal Bland of the Lost, but it's not exactly the The Boss World either.

In this PG-rated animated family adventure, a prehistoric family of homebodies (Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener) embarks on a journey when their cave gets destroyed, forcing them to travel with a risk-taking loner (Reynolds) to discover an incredible and dangerous new world.

The vocal talent proves top shelf, as does the direction. Indeed, the marquee pipes of Cage, Reynolds, Stone, Keener, and Leachman stand out as highlights amid the almost photo-realistic animation. Still, is the whole family dysfunction theme overdone? Eh. Entertaining? Eh. Intelligent? Ugh. To be fair, it's not like family 'toons keep some deep hidden context hiding under a rock. You see, The Croods = Crude family. Get it? Still, compared with DreamWorks Animation's franchise wit-infused self-starters (Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda), this jokey sugar rush at times seems like a knuckle-dragging Cro-Magnon Man, pulling moviegoers along by their hair for 90 minutes.

Bottom line: Alley Dupe.

The film is like The Flintstones meets Ice Age. Overall, I thought it was ok, but was expecting it to be better. I thought the tone of the film was off. I was also thinking that some things or actions in the film weren't really necessary here. Meaning the killing and the eating issue. That could freak out a child watching the film.

On the positive, all the actors are well cast in their voice roles. Nicolas Cage does a great job here. His Grug reminds me a lot of Fred Flinstone meets Homer Simpson. Emma Stone shines as Eep. Her character reminded me of the lead character in Brave and also Rapunzel in Tangled. Ryan Reynolds is great as Guy. He has a great on screen voice chemistry with Emma Stone.

It seems that in recent years that the former king of animated films, Pixar, steadily lost its own luster and now spends its years churning out sequels no one needed (Cars 2) to original stories aping off old Disney cartoons (the severely overrated Brave). Oddly enough, it's Disney itself, the King Of Awful Movies itself, who's been recently having a strange glut of good movies (Avengers, Wreck-It Ralph).
DreamWorks, meanwhile, was off by itself churning out random films, usually about animals, and full of pop culture references. This worked most of the time with the first Shrek film and underrated flicks like Antz and Over the Hedge. DreamWorks' only bad films so far are its sequels, and they spent the last few years doing nothing but them. Now, they and Pixar have switched places, and it's DreamWorks making the mostly good animated movies. Like this one, a mix of the best Pixar films and a Looney Tunes cartoon.
What's extremely fascinating about this film is that there's no villain. There's an antagonist in nature itself and the wild animals trying to kill our caveman family, but there isn't a single character with evil intent. The closest you can get is the caveman Grug's constant attempts to kill his mother-in-law, but that's understandable. That was a joke.
The Croods themselves are a Neanderthal family, proudly referring to themselves as cavemen, who emerge only to get food and then go right back to that cave. Naturally, the cave-daughter, played by the always amazing Emma Stone, is curious about what else there is. Her dad, Grug, as played by the King of Insane Actors Nicolas Cage, constantly tries to shut her up by telling stories that involve curious little girls who get viciously murdered.
Then one day Emma Stone meets a Cro-Magnon (the scientific way to refer to the class of human directly before we showed up) played by Ryan Reynolds, called Guy, and all hell breaks loose. Namely, a giant continental shift that forces all of them out of their cave.
The plot is extremely simplistic, being nothing but one chase scene after another, and hysterical descriptions of things that we take for granted ("This is called a pet. It's an animal you don't kill," says Guy. Retorts the grandma: "We call those children."). All of that simplicity works, though. There's no convoluted plot, nothing to distract us from the family. There's literally less than ten characters with speaking roles in the entire film. This may be why critics don't seem to like this one much: it's so damn simplistic.
Mixed in with all this is the surprisingly violent interactions between the Croods and the rest of the world. They're merely hungry and stupid, and their constant attempts to either get food or not become food themselves results in their respective asses getting kicked by the local wildlife. There's something oddly relaxing about how one of them gets hit with a giant piece of corn and then somehow gets the rest of them stuck to that same piece of giant corn. Guy himself is grossed out by them, and he's the ancient equivalent of a genius, having discovered fire, shoes, traps, hunting, music, and a sloth he calls Belt ("He's my navigator. He also holds my pants up."). The sloth happens to be the main crowd-pleaser of the movie. The kids in attendance went nuts whenever he made a snarky comment, and his trademark "DA DA DAAAAAAA" whenever something important happened. When the Croods start trying to come up with new inventions to outdo Guy, the results are predictably pathetic (referring to the first wig: "This is a rug. It rhymes with Grug." Referring to a giant rock that doesn't move: "This is a ride. It rhymes with Grug"). This is where it seems like one big Looney Tunes cartoon, and does it a hell of a lot better than "Space Jam" ever could.
All in all, much like "Wreck-It Ralph," I liked this a hell of a lot more than I expected to. It's nothing but a cave family trying to survive. Emma Stone in particular needs to be singled out: her cave-girl is everything "Brave"'s protagonist should've been.
On a final adorable note: at the very end of the film, that sloth reappears and before chanting his signature "DA DA DAAAAAAA," he brings the cave-baby with him and then teaches her, and the audience, how to yell it properly. This movie gets right something the otherwise decent "Puss in Boots" did: much like that cat which constantly said "OOOOOOOOO," you need a catch-phrase. "DA DA DAAAAAAAA" is a fantastic addition.

Visually dazzling and filled with hilarious slapstick, The Croods is the most enjoyable film of the year so far. Unfortunately, some of the added sentimentality drags it down but the film pulls it out of sap territory enough for the film to offer some pleasant family togetherness. Dreamworks has made another delightful film even if it isn't quite up to par with several of their more recent hits. Overall Rating: 76

A surprisingly enjoyable and funny family tale with a superb voice cast and animation style to accompany it. The animation in places resembles a shaky camera with odd movements to give it a unique look. The film has real heart and will leave you with a smile on your face.

Very funny - loved all the characters!

Pretty sweet film. Dreamworks' animation still kind of sucks