The Croods

“New is always bad! Never not be afraid!”

Computer animated movies are a hot commodity in Hollywood these days. Ever since audiences first witnessed Andy opening that toy box to play with his old pals Woody, Mr. Potato Head, and Buzz Lightyear, they couldn’t get enough. At first, it was Disney/Pixar that took the helm of this genre of films that had become so wildly popular with new releases such as A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo, but soon others started to jump on this evidently profitable bandwagon. DreamWorks had Shrek, Sony had Open Season, Blue Sky Studios had Ice Age, and soon computer animated movies (like so many other genres before it) had become a dime a dozen. Now, in 2013, it is not incredibly unusual to see a new trailer for or hear news of one of these films every month or two. I, for one, had (until recently) grown very weary of computer animated films simply because, from the few I had seen in the past year, it seemed to me that they had lost a lot of the heart that the genre had once possessed and simply given way to cheap slapstick laughs and shallow storylines. So, naturally, when I saw the trailer for The Croods, I was not in the least bit excited. In fact, I was going to make it a point not to see this film. When I ended up seeing it anyway as part of a last minute date night, I was pleasantly surprised to find a movie with good laughs, a ton of heart, and an original story.

In savage land where food is scarce and danger is imminent, a family of cavemen named (you guessed it) the Croods spend days on end hiding in their cave in order to avoid the dangers of the outside world. With a wife, two kids, a baby, and his mother-in-law to look out for, Grug Crood (voiced by Nicolas Cage) has reason to be a bit of a worrywart when he cautions his family every evening with stories of how “New is always bad.” and how they should “Never not be afraid.” Unfortunately, his headstrong daughter, Eep (voiced by Emma Stone), has other ideas as she dreams of life outside the cave and beyond the cliffs that obscure the rest of the world from her view. The two constantly bicker until a cataclysmic earthquake tears their home asunder, forcing the entire family to uproot themselves and brave this new and wondrous world that has been laid out before them.

Cons

While I did thoroughly enjoy this movie, there were a few things that rubbed me the wrong way—the first of these being the choice of making Nicolas Cage the voice of Grug Crood. As anyone who may have seen any of Cage’s other films (not all of which I recommend) might know, the actor has a very distinct speaking voice. Just like the many other actors with easily discernable voices (such as Christopher Lee, Morgan Freeman, James Earl Jones, and Alan Rickman), you get an immediate picture of him in your head whenever he speaks and can’t easily or quickly get that image out by any means. For this reason alone I found the whole character of Grug highly distracting. Whenever he spoke, all I could see was Benjamin Gates running through the streets of Philadelphia with the Declaration of Independence strapped to his back, or Johnny Blaze riding down the highway on his motorcycle, or Bill Firpo slapping his brothers Dave and Alvin on the back of their heads (did you catch all of those?). That’s not to say I don’t think Cage did a good job portraying the character. On the contrary, I feel like he really got into it and seemed to actually be having fun in the process. I, personally, just could not get past the fact that it was Nicolas Cage doing a voice over for an animated character. I couldn’t completely see Grug as an autonomous being and I think his character suffered slightly because of it.

The other beef I had with this film had to do with the pacing. While funny lines, heartwarming moments, and action sequences fruitfully abounded throughout the movie, there were some definite dry spots in the progression of the story. This mainly occurred in the few instances where the Croods were simply traversing the new world and searching for a new place to live. It almost felt like the makers of the film reached the end of editing and realized that they needed the movie to be ninety minutes long so they added these scenes. It wasn’t agonizingly slow in any way, it just felt a bit dragged. I also felt the action sequences were a bit much as well. The very first scene where the Croods go hunting for food in the wilderness and battle a bunch of creatures during a high-speed chase in the process was quite alarming to me and very unexpected. Again, it wasn’t really a bad thing, but it did take me out of the film for a brief period because of how intense the sequence was and how little I was prepared for it in a movie such as this.

Pros

There was quite a lot I liked about The Croods. The fun characters, the inventive world and storyline, and most of all the emotional highs and lows this story takes its audience to. However, I must say that what I look for the most in computer-animated movies nowadays is the level of laughs it delivers. Honestly, isn’t that why we watch animated anything? Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of animated movies today are opting out of actual intelligent humor (or rather humor that both children and adults can enjoy) in favor of slapstick (which has its place, mind you) and childish jokes. Fortunately, The Croods delivered on this point. Each character had their own funny moments: Grug with his snide wishes that his mother-in-law would die already, Gran (voiced by the well-seasoned Cloris Leachman) with her snarky quips back at her son-in-law, and their human guide Guy’s (voiced by Ryan Reynolds) bewildered and sometimes clueless attempts at relating to this primitive family. Standing tall above the rest in the realm of funny though is the character Thunk (voiced by Clark Duke). The dimwitted yet charmingly sweet son of Grug and brother to Eep, Thunk hangs on his father’s every word (sometimes to a fault) and often finds himself in trouble due to his haphazard nature. Thunk is one of those characters that is so unbelievably dumb, so ridiculously clueless, and so repetitively an ignoramus that you love him immediately and find yourself riveted whenever its his turn in the spotlight. Add in the event of him getting his first “puppy” and you’ve got an extremely lovable character whom you will come away with locked solidly in your heart.

Another character I found endearing and hilarious as well was Belt—the sloth-like creature that Guy uses as… well, a belt. Though not technically a speaking role (though the voice is credited to Chris Sanders, the man who immortalized the character Stitch in the Disney film Lilo and Stitch and, coincidentally, also co-directs this film with Kirk De Micco), the fact that I spent almost the entire film wondering when the little guy would be featured again is a great credit to both the writers for their comedic pacing and to Sanders who seems to have quite a gift for bringing fuzzy odd-looking creatures to life on screen.

While the voice acting was exceptional and the comedy entertaining, I must say (what I always say when applicable) that I was thoroughly impressed with both the story and the writing. While the concept was not the most original, how it was executed and how the characters were formed around it was expertly done. All the characters’ relationships were well defined and the dialogue always had a point. I loved the aspect of family that was driven home in this movie and how involved you became in their situation. More than anything, though, I loved how we were discovering the world at the same time as the characters we were following. To not only feel included in a movie but also feel like you’re experiencing something rather than watching it happen is a hard trick for Hollywood directors to perform, but De Micco and Sanders share it with us beautifully.

Honorable mentions go to the multi-talented Emma Stone for adapting and portraying the character of Eep so thoroughly and believably. From the very first scene of the film we had a good sense of who Eep was, what her purpose in the story would be, and a very quick and from attachment to her plight. It would’ve been so easy for any voice actor to come in and just speak the lines with minimal commitment, but Stone has proven in past movies such as Easy A and The Help that she is the kind of actress who commits to every line and sees the character through to the end; a truly admirable quality in a world full of money-grabbing performers.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a solid flick with stunning visuals, good laughs, and age-appropriate content for the whole family then this is your movie. The Croods delivers on not only an entertaining level, but also a personal one as it teaches about the importance of family as well as how safety and caution can sometimes impede on an exciting or interesting experience. I’d recommend this film for anyone looking for a heartwarming experience that’s sure to leave you with a jiggle in your belly and smile on your face.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10