The Croods

The trailer for The Croods looked fine but I had no real desire to see the film.  These days seeing one film in the cinema is considered a waste so to make the trip worth my while I needed another film and refused point blank to sit through Burt Wonderstone.

The Croods was considered the lesser of two evils but given that it was Dreamworks perhaps I should have been paying attention right from the start.

PLOT: Eep (Emma Stone) is forced to live in a cave by her overprotective father Grug (Nicolas Cage). Fed up, Eep sneaks out of the cave during the night and meets Guy, (Ryan Reynolds) a forward thinking inventor, who tells Eep that the world is coming to an end.  After the Croods’ cave is destroyed Grug forces a reluctant Guy to lead them safety.  END PLOT

Although set in a prehistoric era The Croods follows the usual family drama beats but is more than capable of pulling the emotional punches with the frayed father/daughter relationship.

The script is fast paced with some of the bickering being surprisingly quotable. There is plenty of humour to be found with several running jokes, plenty of giggles and a few big laugh aloud moments. 

The animation was stunning but the set pieces, such as the breakfast hunt, were fantastic to watch – the action flowed seamlessly and was filled with humour.  The breakfast hunt reminded me of The Incredibles but, dare I say it, better!

I am not a fan of Nicolas Cage but I think with animation he has found a place where his over enthusiastic method of acting pays off.  Cage was great fun and leads the cast as stubborn Grug with ease

Emma Stone was as reliable as ever and even Ryan Reynolds worked as Guy.  The voice casting was spot on with there being no weak link.

I don’t know why I am surprised by the quality of The Croods as Dreamworks has been on a steady ascension when it comes to quality animation.  The Croods is great fun and gets 8/10.  If there is a sequel I wont be unhappy.