THE CROODS

The Croods (2013)

Grade: B

Featuring the Voices of: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Gloris Leachman, Catherine Keener and Clark Duke

Premise: A family of traditional cave people trusts a mysterious outsider to lead them to safety through their rapidly-changing world.

Rated PG for fantasy action, scenes of peril and some intense emotional content

It’s no longer safe, box-office wise, to make a kid’s movie that’s only for kids. These days, to gain any street cred (or notable monetary returns), even a PG-rated animated adventure meant for kids must grab adults, too, either with tongue-in-cheek political jokes or pop culture jabs, accomplished celebrities providing the voices, catchy radio-ready showtunes, or more mature themes. Like last year’s Brave, Dreamworks Animation’s The Croods makes its living in the latter category, enchanting kiddies with a visual spectacle but aiming for the heart with a storyline regarding one of the oldest and most relatable relationships—that of parent and child. Brave was about an adventurous girl who felt like her old-fashioned, stuffy mother was cramping her style and ruining her life, but then she got a taste of life without her. The Croods, too, features an adventurous girl in a traditional family home who yearns for excitement, but who, ultimately, realizes home is where the heart is.

Plot

The Croods are practically your typical family. There’s an old-fashioned worrywart father (Grug, voiced by Nicolas Cage), a gentle, compassionate mother (Ugga, voiced by Catherine Keener), a feisty old grandma (Gloris Leachman), a klutzy teen boy (Thunk; Clark Duke), a fierce little toddler who doesn’t speak but can sure as heck bite, and that rebellious teenage girl, Eep (Emma Stone). The Croods are cavemen with thick limbs, otherworldly strength, sloping foreheads, and the tendency to hunt and kill for food with all the savagery of the animals they’re hunting. They’re also prone to huddling in their cave for days at a time when something startles them. It’s this barren, no-frills, do-nothing lifestyle that’s bothering Eep. She’s tired of the dark, tired of the cave, tired of her father’s cautionary stories (a little girl had some curiosity…and DIED). She wants something more.

One night, she awakens to a strange, moving light in the distance. It’s fire, something she’s never seen. The maker of this particular fire turns out to be a man, a more modern homo sapien with a head full of creative ideas named Guy (Ryan Reynolds). Eep is not only fascinated by Guy and the fire he’s created, but she’s startled by his claims that their world is ending, and that he’s going north to a distinct distant mountain to be safe from volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. When Eep introduces Guy to the family, Grug is the only one who doesn’t take kindly to him (he’s wary of trying new things and doesn’t trust this newcomer with his family). But when Guy’s words prove prophetic and his new means of collecting food, wearing foot protection and using horn-like shells to keep in touch make the family’s life easier, Grug feels old and out-of-touch, and his bitterness starts to show. But as the catastrophes close in, it’s clear the family can’t survive if they’re fighting amongst themselves.

What Works?

Obviously, computer animation has gotten pretty darn good, but sometimes you have to see a movie like The Croods to be reminded just how good. This movie is unbelievable. The landscapes are gorgeous (and the explosions frighteningly realistic), the creatures impressively detailed and the main characters as impressive as any computer-generated humans yet. In fact, it’s amazing how, for instance, Eep can be a tanned, broad-shouldered, gap-toothed cavewoman and yet also suggest the cute but gawky Emma Stone, with bright green eyes and freckles on her nose. This isn’t motion-capture, they’re-supposed-to-be-real-technology a la Avatar and Beowulf, but the people are unmistakably human and all convincingly alive. Speaking of which, there’s some terrific voice work. Stone is reliably good and Reynolds is a hoot with an animated part that might not, in live action, support his leading-man persona, but the real star is Cage. While Cage’s live action career has gone off the rails in recent years thanks to the star’s penchants for schmaltzy melodrama and hammy overacting, those qualities prove perfect for bringing the grouchy, roaring, fearful and determined Grug to life. It’s downright fun picturing Cage going wild in a studio making the noises Grug makes when he pounds the ground with his fists and when he chases Guy in a jealous/angry rage. He also makes the character a real man, whom we feel for (when Ugga whispers in his ear, late in the proceedings, "You did good", it's impossible not to think of how much real fathers and husbands only want to hear those words.).

What Doesn’t Work?

I was fighting back tears for the last 30 minutes of The Croods, so it’s hard to take shots at the movie, but there’s never any mistaking its aimed at children. While the movie begins and ends with exciting, meaningful sequences, much of the middle is devoted to repetitive slapstick and over-the-top action (that Grug is the butt of jokes because he refuses to yield to Guy’s ‘new age’ thinking is beaten into the ground). That tearjerker ending, also, is very much on the schmaltzy side. The flaws aren’t enough to keep me from watching it again and enjoying it, but even though my eyes were stinging, my movie critic senses were tingling. But these irritants--typical for kids movies trying to hold young attention spans--are not fatal.

Bottom Line (I Promise): Spectacular animation, some great voice work from well-known celebs, and a entertaining shtick crossed with relevant emotion make The Croods an engaging and well-rounded movie for the family.

The Croods (2013)

Directed by Kirk De Micco and Chris Sanders

Written by Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders, and John Cleese

Rated PG

Length: 98 minutes