The Croods (2013)

Wonderful Movie

Simply A Masterpiece

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Chris Sanders is one of my favorite animation directors of all time. He's worked some pretty fantastic animated movies both at Disney and DreamWorks and I have loved the previous two movies he's directed, "Lilo and Stitch" and "How to Train Your Dragon". Now he and director Kirk DeMicco bring us "The Croods" which focuses on a prehistoric family trying to survive in a crazy environment. It's not as a good as his other works, but I still think that this is a pretty fun movie with an okay story, gorgeous animation and some memorable characters to go with it. Here's how the film plays out.In prehistoric times, a cave family called The Croods is stubborn to typically leave their cave due to their stubborn father named Grug (Nicholas Cage) being scared of the dangers of the outside world. Although most of the family consisting of his wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), her mother Gran (Cloris Leachman), son Thunk (Clarke Duncan), and his ferocious young daughter Sandy are fine by these rules, his older daughter Eep (Emma Stone) is curious about the outside world and sick of always being stuck in a cave and goes out to explore. Pretty soon however, the families cave is destroyed in a massive earthquake and the family soon discovers a massive tropical forrest and are forced to find a new home in a matter of time. After discovering another young boy who can create fire named Guy (Ryan Reynolds), they embark on a crazy long journey to the mountain to find a cave before an impending apocalypse destroys them all.Now before we go over some of the problems the film has, let's talk about the good things that are in it first. The best thing about the movie is the animation. This is some of the best animation I have ever seen not just from DreamWorks, but in general. Everything looked so vast and beautiful and the colors were just eye-popping and rich. The jungle really reminded me a lot of Pandora from James Cameron's "Avatar" it was that good. Everything had so much beauty to it that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. The characters are also a lot of fun. I think the chemistry between Guy and Eep was the strongest throughout the film as her curiosity matched with his clever personality match perfectly. I really liked how the animators at DreamWorks actually made the characters a little like the actors who were playing them. I found that Eep really did have a resemblance to Emma Stone which included her red hair and even Ugga looked an awful lot like Catherine Keener. It was kind of surprising how much the animators captured there looks in a way. As for the story, it's just okay. I feel that some of the scenes were more sequences of jokes sewn together rather than an actual movie at times, but as a whole I think it's alright. With that said though, the movie does have some problems. For one, I don't think the movie is as emotional as it could have been. It has some slightly effective moments, but they don't make a huge impact like "Lilo and Stitch" and "How to Train Your Dragon". Also, I felt that the movie's ending, which I'm not going to spoil, was a little too long. I felt like it could have been cut down a lot in order to make it work, but it kinda went on and I just kept thinking to myself "How much longer is this?" which is typically not a good sign. Though overall, I did like "The Croods". It definitely could have been a lot stronger that it was, but as a whole this is a pretty fun flick. The animation is fantastic, the characters are a lot of fun, and it's story is actually pretty okay for an animated movie. It's definitely not Chris Sanders' best work, but it's certainly not a bad film. I think it's a film you should check out eventually if you want to. Just don't expect anything too grand.

So in my last review, Oliver and Company, I defended a movie I felt was underrated. So today, I'm gonna do the opposite: bash something that I feel is overrated. Yep, you heard right, I don't like this movie. One of my big problems with this movie is the story. After their cave is destroyed, the rest of the movie is NOTHING but a roadtrip with occasional stops and the story doing random things with itself. Now, there are movies where I can excuse this kind of story including The Land Before Time and Finding Nemo which are both in my top 30 animated movies. However, the reasons those movies succeeded were because the stories were executed in a heartfelt way and had great characters. Not to mention, incredible animation. However, this movie is the complete opposite of those 2 movies. There is nothing heartfelt about this movie because I don't like any of the characters or care about any of their problems. Eeb isn't given enough time to be a character and all we know is that she wants more like every other 90's Disney princess ever! However, it worked in those movies because they let us know who these characters are, making us feel for them. Eeb has no personality other than being a rebellious, annoying teenager. Also, Eeb is introduced as the main character in the first act but then it suddenly switches to the father, Grug's, story. You know what? I actually hate him. He is annoying and ridiculously stupid. He's also the most overprotective and close-minded piece of crap I've ever had the misfortune of knowing. As for the other characters, I don't remember their names and I don't care. This is definitely Dreamworks second worst movie beaten out only by Shark Tale.

One more masterwork by DreamWorks! I don't know why, but I did not expect too much of this piece. Though, it showed itself a huge good surprise! As I told in the title above, they had many nice ideas about how to use stone age traits to make a great animation movie. The characters are very well developed and I loved their stone-age mannerisms: amazing animation job! Besides that, it has a quite smart screenplay. The general idea may be perceived as a self-help advise not to be afraid and to risk. Though, it it is more than that, or at least it shows a brilliant metaphor for that: humanity only has evolved because human beings overcame their afraid of nature and tried. Screenplay also explores the alpha male struggles, domestication of wildlife, dangers and scarcity faced by the first days of our species. Following the light is also a nice metaphor for knowledge, like the fire of Prometheus. The Noah's moment in the end was also great. The film is intelligent and touching in the right amount.

I was talked into watching this; and glad I did. This Dreamworks animated feature is co-directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders. Both also lay claim to the screenplay. Fantastic cinematography and interesting story. Plus likable characters. Eep(Emma Stone)is an energetic girl, who likes to stray a bit from the cave. She meets a strange boy named Guy(Ryan Reynolds)and his pet sloth called Belt(Sanders). Guy is imaginative and has what it takes to be a future inventor, or even discoverer. Eep's father is Grug(Nicolas Cage), and as any well respected caveman, he worries when his daughter getting too far from the cave. He finds Eep and on the way home an earthquake makes shambles of their cave.Grug gathers the family, wife Ugga(Catherine Keener), son Thunk(Clark Duke), baby daughter Sandy(Randy Thom) and then there is ferocious Gran(Cloris Leachman)...and the journey begins to search for a new cave. Guy and his pet join the family in the trek across what actually is a brand new world to all. This fantastic new world is full of strange creatures, dangers and wonders. There is a brand new life on the horizon.This is a family friendly movie, but be cautioned that there is some situations that may prove to be too scary for the youngest of viewers. You can count on 98 minutes of adventure, escape and enjoyment.