THE CROODS

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: A -  
Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Cloris Leachman, Catherine Keener and Clark Duke
Story by John Cleese, Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders
Screenplay by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders
Directed by  Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders

Eep (voice by Emma Stone) is a girl in a family of cavemen living in pre-historic times. Eep's father, Grug (Nicolas Cage) is a devoted, well meaning family man who keeps his his Crood brood alive by shutting them away in a cave and living in fear.  When in their cave home, Grug tells a story to the rest of the family, which includes his wife Ugga (Catherine Keener), daughter Sandy, son Thunk , and his mother-in-law (Cloris Leachman), with a character that mirrors Eep's curious nature. He uses this story to warn the family that exploration and 'new things' pose a threat to their survival. This irritates the bored and adventurous Eep, and when the family falls asleep after dark, she ignores her father's advice, and leaves the cave.

While venturing off, she meets Guy (Ryan Reynolds, minus the annoying smirk), an intelligent caveboy. She becomes fascinated with the fire he manages to create, and is eager to learn more. He tells her about his theory that the world is reaching its 'end', before giving her a noise-making horn to call him if she feels the need for help. He then abandons Eep, who is then caught by Grug, who had been frantically searching for her. Much later, he brings her back home, only to find that their cave home has collapsed from an earthquake. All the family then climb over the wreckage to discover an other-worldly land, much different from their usual surroundings of rocky terrain.Together they must set out to find a new home.

To say my expectations for this one were low is an understatement: while I tend to go pretty easy on animated films, the "modern stone age family" concept here hardly seemed like a new one, and the pairing of Cage and Reynolds, two actors who have an uncanny knack for signing on to terrible films, was foreboding.). But movie surprised me with action packed adventure scenes, eye popping visuals, genuine laughs, strong voice performances, a glorious score by Aalan Silvestri, and a lot of heart.

Cage, once one of Hollywood's finest, is in top form here, and thanks to his animated facade he looks more human than he has in years. He gives an energetic yet nuanced performance that would be hard for many actors to match. But Emma Stone, who just keeps getting more delightful with each film (the total waste of Gangster Squad notwithstanding) is pitch perfect in the role of Eep. In fact, i had no idea it was her until the film was over. She and Cage have so much chemistry is hard for me to believe they weren't in the studio recording their voices together. The whole cast fares well, and as a committed Ryan Reynolds detractor I have to admit that when I was just listening to strong comic delivery and didn't have to look at his face, I actually enjoyed his performance.

The Croods may not be up there with PIXAR's very best, but frankly it stands up well to their recent fare, and it's a further sign that DreamWorks Animation is on a roll.

I'm going to admit that my view of this movie may be influenced by watching it with my own little six year old  Eep, who howled with laughter, clutched her seat in suspense, and was moved by the emotion, but at the same time, I make no excuses or apologies; this is flat out a good film and I can't wait to see it again.

The Croods is rated PG for violence and peril, but is thankfully fairly low on the kind of humor one might fear from the title.