I tell you man, with each subsequent released
animated film, the animation, the look, the textures all get
better and better. Dreamworks 'The Croods' is amazing to
look at, and could very well be the best looking animated
movie ever made, until the next one that is, because uneasy is
the head that wears 'The Best Looking Animated Movie Crown' as
this technology is one unstoppable force. What doesn't
seem to get better, and relies very little on technology, is
storytelling. Now we're not saying that 'The Croods'
tells a poor story, not really, it's just that the visual
technology looks to be more important than the storytelling in
this movie, storytelling which, at best, was rudimentary.
Actress Emma Stone narrates for as the cave girl Eep.
Eep is a young cave woman who just wants to see what's out in
the world, but alas her father Grug (Nicholas Cage) assures
her and the rest of the family that the only thing out in the
world, beyond the cave, is certain death. Since the
Croods look to be the only family left standing in this
caveman neighborhood, we tend to think that Grug is correct in
his assessment.
One day however, during an unsanctioned exploratory journey
outside the cave, Eep runs into the young man Guy (Ryan
Reynolds), more hominid to Eep's borderline Neanderthal, and
Guy in addition to having all kinds of cool gadgets like fire,
also has a warning. The Earth is ending. He's seen
it, and its coming fast. As far as Neanderthal cave
girls go, Eep is kind of hot so Guy does offer to take Eep
along with him, but Eep has a family to tend to and lets the
young man go on his merry way.
Sure enough, as Guy predicted, the continental drift is
underway and the world as the Croods know it is ending.
It was touch and go getting out of that mess, but now the
Croods are in a
brand new world, the likes of which they have
never seen before. Grug thinks the family should find a
cave and hide out. It's worked in the past. Guy,
who has made his way back to the Croods to help out, insures
them that the end is still encroaching and they need to keep
moving.
Poor Grug has a lot to deal with right now. First
there's his daughter who obviously likes Guy, and vice versa…
we won't even begin to touch on the genetic dangers of this
semi-cross species romance… but this what makes Grug very
nervous. Then there's Guy and his developed brain which is
trumping Grug and his superior strength at every turn, and
then there is the rest of his family, which includes his wife
Ugga (Catherine Keener), son Thunk (Clark Duke) and his
mother-in-law Gran (Cloris Leachman) who are starting to see
that his way isn't really the best way. This all makes
Grug sad.
But there is no time for anger because danger, be it from the
creatures or the Earth itself is just a step away, and
eventually Grug and Guy are going to have to combine their
respective gifts to save them all. And I imagine saving
the human race since I'm guessing Eep and Guy are Cro-Mag Adam
and Eve.
At the end of the day, 'The Croods' and its ilk are kids
movies. It is preferable, of course, that the adults who
take the kids to these movies and the adults who like to watch
animated films are enjoying themselves as well, but if the
kids in the theater are having a good time with the movie,
then I'm calling the movie a success. 'The Croods' with
its reliance on action sequences, vibrant colors that pop off
the screen… even in 2D which is how I saw it… flawlessly fluid
motion capture animation and amazing character design… the
kids in the theater where I saw 'The Croods' had a ball.
How could they not?
Now this isn't to say that I sat there stone faced while
watching this movie as it certainly had its moments, and it
was entertaining for the most part, but pretty colors and
fluid animation just don't have the same effect on me than say
it would have on an eight year old. So that being said,
the story supporting these pretty colors and fancy images did
leave a little to be desired. Again, not to say that the
story is poor, just uninspired. The tale
that we are being told follows a very familiar pattern, has
very familiar characters, has a very familiar narrative arc
leading to the expected conclusion. On one hand we can
understand why Dreamworks has no intention on reinventing the
wheel, since this largely works and a boatload of money coming
in is almost a lock, but it does make for a… familiar… and
somewhat tired ninety minutes worth of movie watching.
But as we said earlier 'The Croods' is a kids a movie and I
haven't seen a kid yet that hasn't really enjoyed their time
spent with The Croods. But then they also play in mud
and have the tendency to pee on themselves. Gotta factor
that in too.
